Hmm...
For animals raised en masse in cages, who have to sustain suffering all their lives? I understand. I don't want to eat animals that suffer in those conditions and I attempt to consciously evade purchasing meat made under such conditions.
Then again, there are instances where the consumption of meat is simply not allowing a resource to go to waste. Take hunting, like deer hunting. If we stopped hunting deer, they would overrun the environment and devastate it. We're part of the food chain there, so it only makes sense to eat what we kill rather than just letting it rot. Also, in the cases of some animals (ex: chickens, cows) not eating them would result in their mass slaughter anyway, and potential extinction. Corporations and farmers wouldn't want to maintain animals that don't return a profit in some manner. Even thinking on chickens and cows being able to give other products (eggs, dairy) they'd still suffer severe abuse. After all, lines and lines of cages producing dozens of eggs are cheaper than raising them free-range anyway.
Not eating meat, therefore, isn't going to stop en masse for profit animal abuse. Going full vegan will just result in cows and chickens--now dependent on humans for survival because of how we've bred them over thousands of years--being mass slaughtered and then going extinct because they're no longer profitable. Unless people go out of their way to preserve those species, in which case, they'll become a drain on the economy by having to constantly provide for them. They would also be a doomed project: They'll never survive in the wild now, unlike other near-extinct animals that can be brought back and sent out again. Like black-footed ferrets.
In the end, I still eat meat. If I could, I'd eat more fish, but it's not cheap to buy it out here. The solution isn't to stop buying meat, because it'll be produced either way. We (as consumers) need to be more aware of the other methods for raising meat out there. Chickens who live happy lives before being slaughtered for food is about the best we can give them now, because we've essentially raised them to be a slave species for our needs. Not eating them now isn't going to somehow magically fix thousands of years of selective breeding.
Basically: Try to educate yourself and buy meat raised on free ranges if you can. Advocate for and petition to try and get more free range. Tell other people to buy free range. It's more expensive, but the animals have much better lives as a result.
Unfortunately, though, I doubt people will do it or care. I mean, there are tens of thousands of people in India and China who are essentially barely paid slave labour in abhorrent conditions to produce clothing and most everybody turns a blind eye to it because it means they can buy cheaper sneakers and jeans at Walmart. If we can't convince people to care about other humans, how the fuck are we going to convince them to care about stupid chickens and fat cows?
This is a point where I don't think we're going to see improvement anytime soon. No matter what we do.