-dairy animals can be chosen based on their long-term milk production (my goats haven't been bred in 2+ years and are still giving more milk than I know what to do with, and when they are finally bred we have other uses for males around the farm).
-I hatch my own chicks and the males are not ground alive (or tossed in trash, or euthanized, or whatever). My chickens get as much love as my dogs do.
-Of course it's impossible to produce meat without killing an animal, but it is very much possible to produce meat while caring about the animal immensely and ensuring its quality of life is never compromised (save for the last instant). It is the hardest thing in the world- and it should be. Raising my own animals for meat has changed the way I consume other meat (or rather, the way i DON'T consume other meat) unless I'm sure it has been handled, beginning to end, with the same care and concern that I give my animals.
Humane meat is possible without being elitist, expensive, and inhumane, and I take personally your accusation that there's any convenience in it. Attitudes like yours are just one more factor that a small farmer has to deal with in this uphill battle against backwards attitudes towards meat raising and I'd appreciate it if you'd cool it on the propaganda!
I don't know about you personally, but many people I have encountered who abhor the idea of eating meat have based their values on the state of the existing factory farming system- which is fine, opt out if you have to. But when given a choice to do it properly, it needs to be understood that it IS possible.
A note to all hard-line vegans: If you want to do something to improve the welfare of the animals we raise for meat, engage people in discussions of humane farming practices w.r.t. livestock. Most meat-eaters you talk to aren't ready to give it up. So ask yourself: Would you rather live in a world of factory farms, or a world where animals are raised and slaughtered in the most humane way we can manage? Give up on the idea that you'll convert everyone you meet to a vegan, and you can still do a lot of good in this world. When you take hard-line stances like the poster above, you alienate your meat-eating audience and end the conversation.
You seem to understand, and admit, that you're doing something wrong. So: why do it? What is your justification for doing it?
I'm taking my role in my own food production and consumption with the weight it deserves. I'm further accepting my role in the food cycle, and realizing that things die at every stage of food production- even "vegan" food production, whether it's insects that must be removed from crops, animals displaced by tillage, fertilizers made from fish emulsion, and the squirrels that the semi trucks run over on their way to deliver pallets of Veggie Burgers to Whole Foods... and deciding that all things considered, meat is possible, ethically and at a lower environmental impact than the alternatives.
To be more direct: I can't help but think that the reason you have these feelings is that you feel guilt for doing something wrong in regards to the animal(s) in question. I think I've had similar feelings, after learning what goes on in typical farms, and my ultimate reaction to that emotion has been to be vegan as much as I can. So I'm just trying to wrap my head around what your reaction is.
(FWIW, I feel compelled to say that I understand the opportunity to be vegan is a privilege. One that I am able to afford in the city where I live. I don't begrudge anyone who can't be vegan due to lack of access to reasonable vegan options.)
Moreover, that produces calves, and it turns out that half of those calves are male. Those males typically get turned into veal.
And another side effect caused by that is that those calves are forcibly taken from their mothers, which is intensely traumatic for both. It is common for the cows to injure themselves struggling to go after their calves as they are taken away.