By using the term cruelty-free, are you describing dense, commercial feedlot animal production only, or are you including all types of animal husbandry and meat acquisition, including hunting?

There's a definite spectrum of cruelty, with factory farming near one extreme and many forms of hunting near the other. How much cruelty one can stomach (literally, in this case) is up to the individual, of course.

> all types of animal husbandry and meat acquisition, including hunting?

Clearly it’s cruel to kill an animal even through hunting. The animal doesn’t want to be shot/stabbed/etc…

And yet animals (even herbivores) kill other animals all the time. This concern over the cruelty of killing livestock for food is such a weird human conceit.

Well, humans have the choice. Likewise, pointing out that rape is common in the animal kingdom isn't very convincing license for humans to rape.

Or transported on noisy truck without food, water, or air heating/cooling, for many hours or days.

Doesn’t really matter since it doesn’t involve slaughter at all.