Perhaps I've gained a sense of loyalty after working with farmers, ranchers and agriculture in general for several years now, but I feel like a few things need to be said.
It's a really complicated idea, trying to be humane while still running or buying any livestock for food. I'm an enormous advocate of humane treatment of animals, but let me try and lay out the details in a nice summary:
I am a pre-veterinarian major at a university highly involved in Agribusiness. Most of my classes deal with beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, and even horses. When farmer's run their business, they are making "business" decisions. If a cow breaks out with BVD, he'll treat, but now that cow cannot be sold for meat for a full month. Normally this isn't a problem, but some treatments that would be better for the cow would mean the cow has "tainted" meat or milk and and product can never be sold. (Same is true of other livestock animals sold for meat). As a business decision, it can never be done. These just aren't family pets, they are the income and lively hood of these people.
BUT keep in mind, a smart and GOOD farmer will run his business humanely. If his animals are low stress, fed high quality and always healthy (i.e. large amount of space and social interaction with other animals) they yield more weight gain, thrive better and tend to taste better overall. Nutritional needs are evaluated every month, and vets are constantly called in if the slightest sniffle is made. It's just good business.
And as a side point, heifers need to be milked. If given the choice, they will walk into a machine several times a day just to be milked. Any mother will tell you how painful it is if that milk just sat there. (I make this point for some people won't drink milk saying it's inhumane in some way.)
I won't get into slaughter houses, but I do know the good ones are done with pressurized bullets. Animal comes in, and next thing it knows it's dead. Never feels pain, or sees it coming. Running the animals through the shute can be stressful if done incorrectly.
A lot of organizations come around farms and wait for days just to snapshot something "cruel" and twist the context of what was happening. Cruel organizations producing livestock aren't as frequent as they are made out to be, because its just poor business to run a company like that at all. Their profit margin is low, and they are weeded out fast. There are regulations in place for farms, and ones ran inhumanely are shut down fairly quickly.
Agriculture takes the brunt end of a lot of misdirected anger. Slaughter houses are not run by farms, silages put off 10x more methane than cows, and good farmers really are looking out for the best for their animals and their families. I'm not saying bad things never happen, but more often than not it's a weighed business decision to send the calf to slaughter, or perhaps they were ignorant and did not know a certain strand of virus was in town. They lost their whole operation, and it's not like they are happy. They WANT their animals healthy.
Now, cruelty to pets or horses (which are considered companion animals more and more) is never tolerated in my mind. There is no justification for it, and should not be forgiven.
