I care to a certain extent. I'd prefer they were raised well, but I don't check. Blissful ignorance, maybe? I watched a TV programme called 'Meet your Meat' where you met your cow, and took it through the slaughter process and I know I couldn't do it which I know makes me a hypocrite. I don't (and don't try to, I admit) make the association between cute big eyed cows and steak. But I'm happy this way - I sometimes wonder if I should care more, and I'm glad I don't - my friend gets genuinely upset about things that don't upset me (animals, climate, even the X Factor!!!) and I'm glad they don't upset me - life's hard enough!

I also watch that program here in America on Current TV. It is intense to watch, but it did not change my view on eating meat. I do not eat red meat or pork and have not for almost 20 years now, but that was a choice and had no political or social view on my concern for animal. I feel that we all live in this circle of life and eventually, the bacteria will feed of our flesh and the circle starts again. I do not agree with senseless killing of animals for sport, but I do support a hunters right to hunt for meat, or at least to make sure the meat is used for food. There has to be a balance in nature and without sensible control, that balance will be thrown off. In the case of feral hogs, they have decisively tipped the scale in their favor with overbreeding.
Now, going back to the original point of eating farm raised animals that have not been treated humanely. Unless the animal comes to me and tell me he did not like the treatment he received at said farm, I am ok with eating it. Being raised on a farm, I know that it is in the best interest of the farmer to ensure he takes care of his livestock to ensure he gets the best price at market for it. Yes, there are some abusers of this, but the same can be said about raising tuna in enclosed pens versus catching them in the wild. I know that every chicken wing I eat did not come from a chicken who was tucked into their bed at night, and I am good with it, because that chicken only had one purpose in life and that is to make sure I am fed. Now sometimes down the line, that chicken's descendant will eat a piece of corn that was harvested from a field where the manure came from a cow that ate grass that grew in soil that contained worms that ate the bacteria that fed on my carcass...so I am just fattening myself for the chicken's genes to be passed on. Just my two cents.

I think that it matters. But for me it is too hard to do, I am usually all or nothing when it comes to stuff like this. I was a vegetarian for almost a year about 5 years ago. I decided to start a vegetarian diet not because of animals but because of health reasons. (some people think it helps in preventing osteoporosis. I think the jury is still out on that one. But when my grandma died, no one would could even touch her or her bones would break. It really bothered me so I thought I would try that out in an attempt to avoid that scenario for myself.)
But the longer I went veggie, the more I really tuned into the ethical reasons why someone might stop eating meat. And I realized that outside of being a strict vegan that I would not be able to avoid being part of animal suffering (for my personal comfort level). I did even consider going pescetarian and giving up dairy and eggs, but if I am basing my eating habits on suffering, there is still suffering and most of the fish we get at stores are farmed and fatty. Shrimp the one thing I didn't really care about eating is actually terrible for the environment and really not very good for you. Eggs, unless you are raising them yourself (or you really know the farm) there is no way to know what kind of terrible condition those poor hens lived in, even if it says organic. Dairy cows of course suffer and are then put to slaughter.
So for myself, I am simply not able at this time able to commit to a vegan life so I just try to avoid thinking about it. I am not very good at it though and I have a feeling there will be a time when I am ready to try it again, but not at this time.

I do try to eat more "free range" type things, but I don't think the conditions for most of them are much better. (unless of course I know the specific farm) I try to eat those thigns to avoid the extra hormones and antibiotics.

Meant to say, too: from a diet perspective, I try to keep my protein a bit higher, and that can be hard - especially if you're broke and trying to eat non-factory-farmed meat. So I'd be more likely to go without meat I couldn't afford than buy meat I don't want to eat. But I look for deals and stuff and rely on chicken more heavily than I'd like to.

Also, re: game, I have never been a hunter though people in my (now deceased) Texas side of the family were (if they kept trophies at all, they also ate everything and lived on ranches) but am all about eating game animals. I lived in the Texas Hill Country for a while, and some exotic game ranches (which I'm against) had caused the entire region to become populated with little deer from India, as well as giant, dangerous Russian wild boar, when their fences would periodically flood out.

The deer bred twice as often as white tail and tasted really mild, and were a big problem in the area. White tail, for that matter, are also often a big problem. I very strongly believe in hunting and eating deer here - in particular, there are so few natural predators left for them that they are way, way out of balance in the ecosystem. The amount of carbon footprint, money and all kinds of other things that could be saved if more people ate venison (yes, the nice guy wrecking your suburban garden, even), instead of cow, would be staggering.

This is why we should eat our pets.

I love meat eaters.

Meat tastes better if it was beaten to death with a stick. The increased adrenaline and blood flow postmortem makes the steak tender and juicy. Just ask a Matedor.

Meat tastes better if it was beaten to death with a stick. The increased adrenaline and blood flow postmortem makes the steak tender and juicy. Just ask a Matedor.

Interesting, Albert Fish would take days to beat children to tenderize them before killing and eating them, he learned it from a friend who had lived in impoverished china, where the poor chinese would eat homeless children because they were starving. No real reason for posting this other than the that you reminded me of that fact when you said meat tastes better tenderized, guess it works for all kinds of meat.

It's a slippery slope from Meat eating to Child eating.