There is a big difference in farming practices around the world. Where I live we don't do factory farming of sheep or beef (chickens and pigs, yes. And that should stop, yesterday!)
I eat meat. There I said it. and I can tell the difference between beef that has had a long and easy life, and one that didn't.
It's the difference between a McDonald's beef patty, that tastes like rubber and has to be chewed for hours, and leaves your stomach roiling, and a steak that you can cut with a spoon that is full of flavour, and leaves you feeling wonderful inside.
If you are going to eat meat, eat good meat from animals that are cared for and raised to be naturally health and happy.
You can survive on a vegan diet, and if you want to do that, more power to you. But I chose to be an omnivore, because my body performs better that way, and I feel better that way.
I have spent plenty of time living and working on farms, raising stock for food. I played with the animals, I scratched their backs, I puled out thorns, I worried about them when it snowed, I sat and ate my jam sandwiches with them at lunchtime. I protected them from bad dogs.
I knew where they were heading in the end. So my job was to make sure they had a good life while they were in my care. And I would like to think I did a good job.
Characterizing all farmers as greedy, money oriented, torturers does nothing to help the animals.
I've met incompetent farmers, and I've met cruel farmers. They do exist. but like psychopathic murderers, they are quite rare.
Know where your food is coming from, and demand that it is raised well, and much of the moral dilemma of eating meat goes away.
I agree that free range farming is far superior, especially for products where they don't need to kill the animal (dairy)
economics unfortunately will generally drive towards the worst factory farming practices because they're the most competitive. paying a premium for good practices will likely remain a niche market for a long time
I beg to differ. New Zealand can grow sheep and land the best quality meat in the UK cheaper than they can grow it for domestic use - and they are subsidized!
Sheep are not factory farmed here - all sheep are free range sheep. The very idea of putting sheep inside just doesn't happen here.
You can farm productively and competitively without resorting to the factory mentality.
In the US and across Europe the farmers have bought into the'factory' mentality. They are running factories that churn out meat. and all their efforts center around keeping the factory running.
The farmers here, are farmers not factory owners. (Well, most of them are. Some have bought into the factory model and it sucks)
And that's what is needed more than anything. Farmer care about their animals. They are living, breathing animals, not supermarket products that need to be packaged.
If my country can do it, from the arse end of the world, then why can't the US and Europe do it?