Hear hear, Monika.
I chose to become a vegetarian after sending 2 of my old free range pigs to the abattoir. Due to an 'arrangement' between the butcher (an old and valued customer) and the abattoir, the back fatters were left without food or water for 48 hours before killing; despite the practice being illegal.
Obviously, neither the butcher or his customers wanted to pay for excess fat.
At some point, thinking humans should decide how “humanity” is measured. Is it merely by our ability to reason, or our ability to empathise -even with the animals we prey on- that makes us Human?
This isn't just about City versus Country, or whether or not some people have milk in their coffee. Just as nurses have a certain notoriety for not being compassionate, so too do farmers, for pretty much the same reason. Getting too involved can only expose one to pain.
In virtually all hunter societies traditions existed honouring prey animals; thanking the prey for their sacrifice so the hunter and his family might live. This compassion is rather more difficult when the animals are bred and raised for just one purpose.
Only in farming societies are animals reduced to mere commodities, before and after they die.
Perhaps this is the essence of the current “99%” protests; the feeling that the 1% see the rest of us as no more than financial commodities, to be exploited where ever possible and placated whenever necessary, but never to be treated with any real empathy.
Indeed, there seems to be a growing consensus that to become one of the 1%, you basically need to be a sociopath.

Jayb, you may well be right when you say just slitting the throat is the most humain option.

I have cut myself perhaps as many as 200 times during my 34 years, some requiring as many as 10'stitches.

I recon there would only have been a handful of these that actually hurt, and these were only when you cut a large surface area, like taking a scallop off the end of your finger, as the pain is as a result in the number of nerve endings that are cut, not the deepness or size of the cut it's self.

In fact, I would suggest that branding is more painful as it damages a larger number of nerve endings.

It is also suggested that an animal killed with a sharp arrow (that doesn't strike bone) is more human and less painful and stressful than a gun shot.

The footage seen on the ABC was a natural reaction from any animal and it may not have been a reaction to pain, but rather, the nerves responding, a bit like a headless chook.

Perhaps the most humain solution would be a gas.

Not sure, but in any case these animals would not have been born if not for the food chain.

*Only in farming societies are animals reduced to mere commodities, before and after they die*

Actually not so, Grim. Most of the livestock farmers that I know,
have quite a close bond with their animals. They are certainly not
doing it for the money, more like the lifestyle which includes that
bond.

But farming teaches you all sorts of things. You learn to accept
birth and death as part of the natural cycle of life. You are
forced to accept reality, when say drought hits, or you go broke.

I've seen farmers try to feed livestock through droughts, the
feed cost virtually sent them broke. Farming can be so pleasant,
but it can also be incredibly tough. Getting the gun out to shoot
your own livestock, because its the only realistic option, is one
of the hardest things I've had to do. I know few farmers who don't
find it tough. Some can't bring themselves to it, I've seen their
farms blow away and their livestock suffer, because they could no
longer afford the feed and went into depression.

To suggest that these people treat their livestock as mere commodities,
is showing your ignorance.

While it is possible to get complete nutrition from vegetables only, an article I read in Time magazine a decade ago indicated that there were on average measurable differences in height and mental acuity between those that ate meat (even a small amount) and those that didn't. However, the vegetarian children mostly caught up by adult hood.

This may be because a balanced vegetarian diet for children is difficult, and was inconsistently applied, but as with other fads such as holistic medicine I regard vegetarianism as yet another new age fad selfishly applied by parents.

rehctub: a bit like a headless chook.

The corrrect way to kill a chook was to grab the legs, pull them goes straight out. A quick chop with the Cane Knife & it is all over. Except the other kids had to chase the headless chook all over the yard. If you just held the body, the chook would pull it's head up & you couldn't get a clean hit & dad would give you a swift kick up the Cloaca.

rehctub: the pain is as a result in the number of nerve endings that are cut, not the deepness or size of the cut it's self.

You are correct. Some people think that cutting the throat is like in the Movies where it's cut from ear to ear. That is not what happens. The knife is thrust in a particulatr place on the neck where all the artries come together. These are cut by the knife. The cut in the skin is only about 75 mm. Very few nerve endings are cut.

What may be cut are the big nerves which sever the pathway to the brain & therefore numb. The amimal passes out & dies from loss of blood.

What happens next is, The spinal cord is cut & a lawyer cane is pushed down the spineal cord to make the nerves fire. This causes the beast to kick & pump the remaining blood out of it's body. The beast doesn't feel this as the pathway to the brain has been severed. Anyway the beast is already dead. Basic anatomy.

A short list of things I have eaten; Chook, Duck, Turkey, Pigeon, Emu, Flying fox, Brolga. Cattle, Buffalo, Horse, Deer, Possom, Echidna, Cat, Dog, Monkey. Native Rat, Turtle, Shark, Fish. There are a few more but that's enough for now. Oh! Vegies. I love my Vegies. ;-)

“ Most of the livestock farmers that I know, have quite a close bond with their animals.”
With how many animals, Yabby? A hundred? A thousand? 5 thousand?
In times past, it was common for dairy farmers of small (a few hundred or less) herds to name each milker, and keep records of each animal. Today, since most small farmers have been forced off the land, it is more common for the beasts to be allocated a number -much like humans.
The first step to 'commoditisation'.
I have yet to hear of any farmers giving a thousand head of beef steers names.
In fact, it was a strict rule on our farm that animals with names were safe. (names like “T bone” and “lamb chop” didn't count.)
Are you suggesting that mulesing doesn't happen, Yabby? Or that farmers with a “close bond” with their animals skin them alive out of love and affection? Ditto branding, disbudding and dehorning.
One can't help but wonder if Yabby would recognise a “close bond” if one came up and bit him on the ass...ets.
After 20 years as a sawmiller and livestock breeder in the (predominantly timber and dairy) Wauchope district, I also know a fair number of farmers. Small acre dairy farmers have obviously far greater scope for forming attachments with their animals, but they're the ones being forced off the land. Even in those circles, my attitudes to animals was considered a little 'cracked'.
After all they are “only” animals (most common rejoinder).
Yes, such farmers do have to make tough decisions; cutting out underperforming stock can be tough, but I for one have never had a problem putting a beast out of it's misery. Nor did I have much of a problem killing an animal for the table, so long as they never knew what hit them; although I can't say I ever enjoyed it. Killing one of my daughters' dogs because it wouldn't stop attacking livestock was far harder.
The article was largely about how we kill animals, rather than 'why' or 'if'.