It was only recently I put two and two together and realized farmers kill all the male calfs which result from impregnating cows so they can start being milked.
On the other hand... veal is delicious. But it does feel a bit bad.
At this point I just aim for local farms for meat as much as possible, and organic and pasture raised where I can't. Even if they still kill the male borns, at least I know the animals are being treated a bit better.
Well, yea, certainly they let some of them grow up to become beef products instead of veal products. But a lot of them just become veal since they have their quantity of steer head already.
And the females are grown up and impregnated and milked and the process repeats.
At least, that's my understanding of it all anyways.
Though my SIL has expressed a willingness to slaughter the roosters so perhaps I'll just buy straight runs from now on and eat fresh chicken.