We manipulate the livestock population now so it would just be a question of not breeding so many. We'd probably keep maintain smaller herds for study and to supply new "starter" cells if they were needed. As far as cattle are concerned the only real problem would be the dairy industry which requires dairy cows to be lactating pretty much constantly which means producing calves. I would think that some bright individual would figure out either how to keep a cow in milk without producing calves or how to produce milk without benefit of a cow.
As for the jobs question, a conversion to this type of production would be gradual. Convincing the suspicious and scientifically illiterate consumer that the government and big business weren't trying to poison them with "Frankenfood" would guarantee that. The fact that "no animals were harmed in the production of this meat" would be a HUGE selling point and would likely be very effective with those people who have ethical objections to current meat production methods. Consequently, the present system would be phased out rather than suddenly collapsing. There would still be meat packing plants, they would just be set up differently to accommodate the new system. As far as the wild animal population is concerned, deer hunting would probably have to continue since uncontrolled deer herds are notoriously destructive and the only alternative to hunting by humans would be to reintroduce mountain lions and wolves to control the deer. Most people would not want that, especially if they happened to encounter a mountain lion during their morning jog....
Subject: Now... in your grocer's meat case.. 
Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:43 pm
