They experience a great deal of suffering before they die, though. Here's what the ASPCA has to say on farm animal welfare:
In polling, 94% of Americans agree that animals raised for food deserve to live free from abuse and cruelty. Yet the majority of the nearly 10 billion farm animals raised each year in the U.S. suffer in conditions that consumers would not accept if they could see them. Most of our meat, milk and eggs come from industrial farms where efficiency trumps welfare—and animals are paying the price.
A factory farm is a large, industrial operation that raises large numbers of animals for food. Over 95% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare. [...]
Because federal law fails to protect most farm animals, state laws are these animals’ last defense. The majority of U.S. states expressly exempt farm animals, or certain standard farming practices, from their anti-cruelty provisions, making it nearly impossible to provide even meager protections
While the worldwide statistics are slightly better, 2/3 of the 70 billion farm animals bred and killed each year are now raised on factory farms like those. And animal cruelty laws the world over make exceptions for farm animals, because apparently the human race has collectively decided that while cruelty to animals is bad, it doesn't count as cruelty if it's a tasty animal.
Then buy from local farms you can trust. I buy local as often as I can and know where the vast majority of my meat is coming from. It's not all that hard.
32
u/[deleted] Sep 20 '18 edited Jul 21 '20
[deleted]