Realise this is an oldish thread, but what the hell! Can't resist adding my pennies worth.
the way cows are treated is digusting, they dont get to keep there babies - Actually that's just dairy cows that don't keep their calves, beef cattle do keep their calves, that's why they're called suckler cows. So if you buy good-quality beef from a local butcher the chances are that animal will have stayed with its mother for months and months.
The dairy calves that are taken away from their mothers are kept in groups with other calves, and for the most part are fed cows milk, not powdered replacement milk (unlike many human babies FFS!) In the summer they are usually kept in grass fields, and in the winter in open-plan barns. They really do enjoy life!!
Male calves are usually not killed now, they are kept and fattened as the price of beef is high.
chickens only live for 72 weeks before they're considered useless and male chicks are killed. Well, male chicks to be grown for meat are not killed, only the ones which are hatched for egg-laying. Yes, this is not good (commercially it is not viable to do it in any other way), but if you felt strongly about this you could buy your eggs and meat from a small-holding or hobby chicken-keeper, who would as likely as not keep the male chicks until they were of an age to go in the freezer, even if they were an egg-laying variety rather than a meat-variety. In fact many smallholders prefer 'duel-purpose' varieties of chicken so there is no waste.
My philosophy is to respect the animal and make sure that its life is very enjoyable from beginning to end - i.e. free range, organic diet, social (other animals of the same variety to hang out with), and enjoy the meat on my plate all the more because of the fab life its had.
To ensure high welfare, buy organic, or from a smallholding.