> "Please don't assume all meat comes from conditions described in this article."
Every time something like this comes to HN, someone always has to point out that not ALL meat comes from CAFO's.
For anyone interested, the top 4 beef producers account for over 80% of the production:
http://www.foodcircles.missouri.edu/07contable.pdf
So yea, you can go ahead and focus on how there is a sliver of meat consumed that didn't come from horrid conditions, but you'd be minimizing the true reality
Farming this way is better for the animals and the environment but it can never scale to meet even current demand for meat. Farms like the one you describe are a tiny minority and there are even fewer small independent slaughterhouses. 99% of the meat people eat comes from places like the one described in this article. This book explains in detail why this is the case:
I just bought from a small farmer, the process was remarkably painless. I bought from them, they delivered the animal to the butcher, and I picked it up after it was processed and packaged. Maybe Washington/Seattle makes it easier, but it really wasn't a whole lot more effort than getting the meat from a grocery store.
Please don't assume all meat comes from conditions described in this article.
Slaughterhouse / factory systems are disgusting. I don't eat meat that I know was sourced this way.
You can, fairly easily in most places, support your local farmers and ranchers and buy direct.
And if you want to know why it's not easier to get locally sourced meat from family farms / small producers, you can look to the government. They've done all they can over the last 30 years to make it next to impossible for the "little guys" in the business.
* Small Meat Producers Take Their Slaughterhouse Gripes To Congress : The Salt : NPR || https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/15/448942740/sm...