I have no intent to become a vegetarian, so if I see that the animals I will one day be eating have a happy life and a humane slaughter, that's the most I can ask for.

I grew up on a farm, and we ate most of the animals we raised (chickens, pigs, lamb). The chickens were never named (except for a few chicks when I was very little - brownie 1, brownie 2, yellowy, blackie - creativity was not a strong point then, but they all met a fox anyway), and that was enough to keep us from getting attached to them - plus, after chickens outgrow the fluffy stage they are not particularly intelligent or even nice, so eating them was never a problem for us. When we started raising pigs, we decided to give them names that would remind us of their fate - the first one was "Lady Francis Bacon." After that the names became a little less obvious, but still doomed - Marie Antoinette and Lois the 14th, and then they just became a little morbid - Queen Elizabeth, the THIRD, etc.
Anyway, as kids we tended to ignore the animals, or see them as chores, and we never had a problem eating them! (Doesn't seem to have done any psycological damage either...)

I grew up on a farm, and remember bottle-feeding lambs and loving watching the cows mill around in the pasture. And we always had the best steaks growing up. I've thought about becoming vegetarian before, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of making sure my meat is all farm-raised and happy. Animals are part of the cycle, after all, and I personally think it's an important balance to maintain--with plenty of humanity in the process.

That said, I completely respect all the people who refrain from eating meat because of the way they feel about animals.

I respect and understand the argument for vegetarianism. As a nutritionist, I also understand that our bodies have evolved to eat meat and there are some nutritional requirements that are better met through animal foods, rather than vegetable foods. However, modern animal raising is geared for efficiency rather than humanity and it troubles me to contribute to this system.

So, when I go to a farm and meet the happy, non-stressed animals eating their natural wild-type diet, it makes me feel good to be eating them rather than those bought at the grocery store. They lived a good life, and it is the circle of nature.

I agree with all of the previous commenters--I'm not going to be a vegetarian, so I'd rather know the animals I will eventually eat are living healthy, happy lives, not crammed in a poultry shed with no fresh air and a tiny door that allows them to be called "free range." Frankly I feel like if I can't look at the animal (or a side of beef at a butcher's shop, or a head-on duck or chicken at a farmer's market) and still eat the meat, I shouldn't be eating meat period. I want to respect the animal that is giving its life for my protein, not ignore it and eat something shrink-wrapped and so far removed from what it originally was that I needn't face reality.

Modern animal production (not husbandry) looks nothing like the pictures above. It is insane and cruel and disgusting and a thousand other terrible adjectives in addition to producing ecological disaster areas. That being said I am not a vegetarian and I want to meet eat so we are struggling to reconcile the two.

Meat raised in a humane fashion is difficult to locate. Labels start out meaning well ("free range") but once they become codified by the USDA become all but meaningless because agribusiness waters them down.

Our local Slow Food chapter is starting either a meat CSA or a Metropolitan Buying Club to source better meat. One of the early points of agreement is that members wanted a tour of any of our suppliers. Not everyone wants to go on the tour; but everyone wants to make sure the farms are observed.

I really have a hard time around animals I know are doomed. I have been a vegetarian for 25 years. It's a little about health but mostly about my love for animals. I respect meat eaters who actively participate in the raising, killing and slaughtering - not someone who will only eat a slab of prepackaged flesh. Anthony Bourdain is an example of someone who talks about going to the source and not being squeamish about the visuals of dead animal parts.

I'm a protein freak and crave eggs, beans, tofu and nuts. And I have to admit, I'm always looking for something to simulate the texture of meat. But a piglet, a lamb - just can't deal with eating him or her....

I think Anthony Bourdain is an example of someone who talks about going to the source because that's what his producers make him do. If it were up to him I don't think he'd be an active participant in the process. But that's just my opinion.

Here's a really entertaining video of Dan Barber, Chef of Blue Hill in Manhattan and in Upstate NY talking about his experience with naming a pig on his farm. It's a little lengthy but it is really fun to watch if you have the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZY-tOGVRSI

I think that seeing my food was actually what caused me to become a vegetarian. (and I was just a kid then. I have now been meat-free since 1998) I don't blast the meat-eaters, as everyone else in my family and my significant other are meat-eaters. I do think slaughterhouses are uneccesarily cruel, so I guess if I HAD to eat meat, I would rather it come from happy animals. My sister still enjoys her meat, but now she only buys organic "happy meat", as she calls it.

Still in all, it would disturb me to look at a cow, alive and mooing, only to find it a hamburger on my plate later.

I have always loved animals, but have only decided to become vegetarian four months ago at the age of 24 for primarily ethical reasons. I enjoy seeing animals cared for by responsible farms who have their best interests at heart. Knowing that they are destined for the table doesn't make me like seeing them less at all, but it makes me sad that this is not the standard of living for most of our nation's animals for consumption.

This is why I've been vegetarian for the past 15 years. I just can't handle it.

I had this problem as a 5 year old and and it took me until I was 10 to figure out how to tell Mom and Dad that I was going to be a vegetarian. I told them I was giving up meat for Lent, which we didn't celebrate 'cause we weren't terribly religious. I've been one ever since and it was all because of the weird-looking turkey and chicken we once had for Thanksgiving, my Mom's favorite holiday.

I don't think I'd have a problem with it. I grew up around that kind of stuff.

I've never had a chance to be in this kind of situation but I feel like if you're able to eat the meat you have to be ok with seeing its source. I'm currently a meat-loving foodie but if I were to go to an actual farm and become unsettled with seeing animals that will be slaughtered in the future then I'll probably give up meat and vice-versa if I was ok with it then meat would stay on my plate.

*laugh * Goosebucket, I call it "happy meat" too.

I've tried to cut down my consumption of meat to about once or twice a week both for ethical and cost reasons. It does bother me to think about the animals getting killed and I've certainly met enough animals that turn into dinner, but I keep eating them, so I must be okay with it on some level.

I think I'd have serious issues with having to do it myself, but I've never had the opportunity to do so, so I might be surprised. I have far less trouble with the idea that an animal was able to walk around and live its life before it was humanely killed than I do with the animals raised in a factory farm, which is completely artificial.

Hmmm. It is one thing to meet the animal and see it blissfully happy while it is unaware of its fate. But how many people could watch the actual slaughter and still feel like they're eating "happy meat"? I'd like someone to explain what "humanely killed" means. I can't imagine any slaughter method, from throat sliting, electrical stunning or the old ballpeen hammer to the cranium stunning that I would consider remotely humane. I find a lot of the "meet your meat" movement as a way for meat eaters who are on some level uncomfortable with eating meat to ease their discomfort so they can continue to eat meat. Focusing on how the animals lived is a way to avoid focusing on the fact that they are then slaughtered. In the end something died, rather painfully and often terror-stricken, for your pleasure.

I grew up on a farm, and knew that most of the beef we ate roamed our own fields. Whenever the cows got out and we had to herd them back, my dad always told me, "the cow is more scared of you than you are of it.