While most people recognize that beef, chicken and pork comes from real animals, there is a growing number of people who would like to see cows, pigs and poultry as pets, and avoid the whole slaughterhouse scene.

There is a difference between animal welfare and animal rights. The Humane Society, for example, is about animal welfare, which seeks to spare animals physical pain and suffering. The livestock industry generally promotes animal welfare, too, for both economic and moral reasons.

But some animal rights activists consider animal agriculture to be like human captivity, slavery and cannibalism. The new, larger confinement operations are their primary target, descrying them for "abusive" treatment.

Consumers are getting into the mix as well, as there appears to be demand for meat and poultry products that are labeled as free range, nonconfinement or otherwise "unstressed" animals.