Urlaubj

As for what companies to buy from, here's my thoughts:

I'm vegetarian, not vegan, but my principle is this: if I buy an animal product, I have to be able to see with my own eyes the way the animal is treated. I buy eggs from my neighbor, who treats her chickens like pets. I get my milk/cheese from an Amish (Mennonite) farm which hand-milks its cows and treats them well.

PETA has a useful company search tool here: http://features.peta.org/cruelty-free-company-search/index.aspx

I don't get any money from it. It's actually expensive, since I use lots of gas to drive to farms.

No one. I lost money in gas.

That depends on the State and the industry. For example, Michigan has phased out battery cages, so their chicken farms are decent looking. Ohio hasn't (yet). I've seen Ohio's largest chicken farm, and it's a horrorshow.

There's almost no federal animal welfare regulation, so it's all state dependent, and many laws which apply to some industries don't to others (humane slaughter and transport laws don't apply to birds, for example).

Overall, I'd say most farms (75%+) disgust me. The other quarter I have problems with, but wouldn't call "disgusting."

That's a great question. Here's a start:

-Whenever an animal is having a part of it chopped off (debeaked, dehorned, tail docked), it must be asleep/anesthetized. -Animals must be given room to roam around and plenty of sunshine. -All animals must be put to sleep before slaughtered. This could be achieved on a large scale with gas.

We're far from even this.

The animal movement is divided into two camps: animal welfare and animal rights.

Animal welfare (my camp) thinks the reason the way we treat animals is wrong is that it causes them suffering.

Animal rights think animals have unalienable rights, which farming/slaughter violate.

As long as an animal isn't made to suffer, I'm ok with eating it's products. If I can see with my own eyes an animal whose products' I'm eating isn't in pain, I'm ok with it. That's why I'm vegetarian.