If everyone went vegan...?

This is all theorectical but let's say that people were consuming as much meat as they are today, then for everyone in the world to suddenly go vegan the next day...well what would probably happen would be that the people who raise the cattle, pigs, etc for money would be losing money and they would probably do what they do when they're not gaining any profits from them; they would be slaughtered. It sounds awful but they wouldn't have means to support them and they would have the Environmental Protection Agency all over them if they just let them go. They would probably just do what they've been doing; killing them but this time they wouldn't keep the cycle going and that would more or less be the end of the line.

But let's say that the world slowly became vegan. Then there would be less livestock and hopefully the people would be so kind to let them live out their life and let them die of old age.

Agriculture has been around for about 10,000 years. I don't believe we can really know to a full extent what would happen if we were to just let the animals go. Some might even see that as cruel because it could even be viewed as a person releasing a domesticated animal out in the wild. We do not know how they would react because we can't recall what it ever was like to have a chicken in the wild or a cow. Of course if we were all vegan for ethical reasons, we'd still want to see them out of cages, sheds, or any other abusive situation.

The main thing would be that we would end the breeding, end the slaughterhouses, end of grazing.

There would not be an overpopulation of animals(especially if it was given five years). Slaughter animals are purposefully bred for food. Without being bred, they would not produce more offspring, and in turn the current animals would be slaughter over the next 5 years(or probably even less), until there were non left.

Most slaughter animals are not kept on Old MacDonald's farm, but rather large factory farms. Factory farming is a business, and no business would use money to sustain a product no longer able to be sold. These factory farms would most likely cease breeding animals quickly, so not to be left with any remaining animals(and go into another business). A business is a delicate balance of supply and demand. Every business knows how much they sell in a year, and how much product they need(same with the slaughter house business). Therefore, a factory farm would be able to determine how many animals they could continue to breed over the next 5 years, and when to stop in order to not have an "stock" remaining. They would be terrible business people, to keep breeding at the same rate they were in the past, when eventually(and they know the exact date) no one would buy their product.

There is no way of really answering your question, b/c anything is possible in "what if" situations. There are too many unknown variables. Is this a law that was passed? If so, why wouldn't legislation also pass something that stated any unsold/slaughtered animals would have to be cared for by farmers? If that was the case, would all the farmers be allowed to slaughter their animals at year 4 day 364? If that happens then there are no left over animals. At the very least there would most likely be a fine imposed for every animals remaining on the farm(which would also cause the business owner to slaughter any remaining animal at the 11th hour).

If it was b/c everyone decide that eating meat was inhumane, then most likely the small amount of left over animals would be gathered to live out their lives in sanctuaries, and taxes would probably be imposed to support their needs. However, if everyone suddenly got compassionate, you may be able to find privately owned farms/property were people were willing to care for former slaughter animals.

It is simple economics that as fewer people eat meat and dairy products, prices will go down. All the meat, dairy products, and eggs that now exist will be sold, but they will be sold for less money. As more and more people adopt a vegan diet, fewer of these products will be produced because prices will fall. Eventually, we’ll stop raising animals for food altogether. Many people who work in low-level positions in these industries are already being treated very poorly; for example, most slaughterhouse workers aren’t given health insurance, and many line workers suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. The jobs that replace these positions will certainly be better than the jobs that are lost as this industry goes the way of the slave trade.

If by some stroke of magic, the entire world stopped eating meat all at once, I think that some of the existing livestock would be processed into pet food or similar uses; the rest would be slaughtered, and either burned or buried.

Livestock cannot be set free- the environmental destruction would be severe.

And the farms would most definitely not be willing to pay to maintain livestock with no economic value. Maybe the government would subsidize it.

If everyone went vegan at exactly the same second, than I think that farmers would care for their livestock until they died, or maybe make them into pet food, but it seems unlikely that a vegan would want to burn them. And since veganism uses less land to make the same amount of food, than maybe there would be more unused land. The population probably won't start increasing any quicker so the land wouldn't all be used up for growing food.

Iggy- supply and demand. research that.

Why do you consider it to be a legitimate question? You can't just say that it is and expect everyone to agree. I don't think it's a legitimate question, because it's based on a very, very unlikely scenario. If everyone went vegan, they sure wouldn't do it just over night.

they could be killed as opposition for nutrition fairly than a source. they could no longer be released into the wild devoid of unfavorable the eco equipment. maximum of them could die out fairly today as they do no longer look to be nicely suitable to residing on their very own. There could be exceptions. undergo in techniques in the previous west cattle have been loose selection and did proceed to exist. Chickens have a stunning skill to pass feral in many places. As do pigs ( a extreme difficulty in some place ) Goats do too. ducks could different than the main person-friendly breeds on farms have been bred to no longer fly making them ordinary prey. Turkeys could die out today because of the fact in addition they do no longer fly. a number of them could proceed to exist long sufficient to reproduce with wild turkeys and regulate the gene pool. Sheep may well be waiting to proceed to exist reckoning on what predators are around. The extinction of kinfolk animals is the schedule of PETA.

The farm animals would become free roaming wild animals and pets. We would no longer be in an echonomic chrisis and we would probably get rid of this "health care" better known as "disease Management" program. Good Question :)

The animals produced for food do not occur naturally. They are artificially inseminated and gestated to keep up with demand. When demand falls, supply slows as well.

just read the answers, if suddenly all humans became compassionate.. if suddenly all people by stroke of magic became aware of the inhumanity... really, why and why would it need a stroke of magic? what kind of blood shedding creatures are we? and yet 99.9% of these same humans think they are actually "good people".