It depends on your perspective and why you went Veggie. I personally do not feel it is morally wrong to eat meat. What I find morally wrong is to treat an animal that will eventually be slaughtered badly; unnecessary cruely that sees animals suffering day in day out just so they can make a few extra pence profit for the farmer and a few pennies cheaper for the 'housewife'!
As far as I'm concerned so long as an animal has lived a pain free life where it has had chance to express natural behaviours, and is then slaughtered in a guaranteed pain free manner then I'm OK with that. I chose not to eat meat, but don't find the free range meat abhorrent to me.
Would you agree that humans have a moral obligation not to impose unnecessary suffering on animals?
Your statements that it is not "morally wrong to eat meat" and then the ones about not suffering/pain free/unnecessary cruelty are in fact at odds with one another.
I also assume that you eat dairy - where the conditions you set out as being a requirement of "pain free life" and "expressing natural behaviours" are completely contravened.
I agree that cruelty is cruelty, but I also think there is a big difference in levels of cruelty between a free range hen and a pig in a sow crate.
If you investigate what "free range" actually really means in terms of when that label can be used, I think you might be surprised. That said, lets draw an analogy - if someone said committing rape using drugs and a five star hotel room was a "big difference" to committing rape in a back alley, then you'd be quite rightly outraged. In both cases an immoral act is committed - it matters not that in the first instance that the surroundings were more comfortable, it doesn't make moral an immoral act.
I'll be castrating my dog, do you think that's cruel? I personally think it's the responsible thing to do in a world where there is already an excess of dogs spending day after day in small concrete kennels before the inevitable PTS sign is raised.
If you castrated your dog in the same way as happens to a pig on a farm, then yes it would be. Obviously that won't be the case and I agree it is a sensible course of action in the circumstances.
You gotta understand that your views are extreme and not everyone feels the need to be so extreme, that doesn't nor should it reduce the importance of any steps others make towards reducing their impact on animal cruelty.
Nope, nope and nope again. There is nothng extreme about veganism. By any definition, how is rejecting violence and discrimination extreme? Look at it in the cold light of day: which is more extreme - rejecting violence and harm to others or being responsible every day for exploitation/suffering/death of animals that humans have no need of eating? If you are truly honest about this, you cannot seriously maintain with any justifcation that being vegan is "extreme". You may choose to reject veganism, but that does not make it extreme.
If we replace animal cruelty with domestic violence in the latter bit of your statement, what would be your reaction be to "you've got to recognise that people committing domestic violence won't stop beating their partners overnight, and you've got to recognise the importance of any steps they take to reduce their domestic violence"? This is not an issue that exists on a scale, either animals matter and you don't exploit them or you believe they don't matter at all.
I would prefer it if everyone stopped eating meat, but that's not my decision to make and it's not anybody else's place to dictate either. If people know what suffering these animals go through and are still happy to eat meat then that's on them and their conscience.
Again, lets just substitute into that statement: "I would prefer it if everyone stopped using slaves, but that's not my decision to make... if people know what suffering these slaves go through and are still happy to use slaves then that's on them". Nobody would say that the anti slavery movement were wrong to challenge the decisions that others were making to perpetuate the slave trade.
Eating animals is only a "choice" in that society allows it. You are free to choose to hold racist views. That choice says nothing of morality. I believe it is morally incumbent upon anyone who is vegan to educate others.
Just to add, since it is a criticism often levelled here, I am not in any way attempting to judge individuals here so what I say isn't meant personally, but I think it is important to firmly challenge on the issues raised as a whole and for that discussion to take place.