It might feel different to a human, but it’s the same for the animal either way. Similar to hiring a hitman, it’s no more moral to kill at an arm’s length. I believe it is less moral because there’s an additional victim (the person performing the killing).
I think cognitive dissonance is less important here than you might think.
I enjoy watching young cows play, and place minimal importance on the last 5 minutes of their lives. Get rid of farming meat doesn’t just kill them it removes them from ever having existed.
It’s true there are some horrific things that can happen in factory farms, but real effort is generally spent to minimize suffering because stressed animals don’t grow as quickly. Meat even tastes worse when the slaughtered animal suffered before their death. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-scared-animals-tas...
Also, what bothers people isn’t the same as what bothers animals. Cows are herd animals the like some personal space but it’s far less important to them than it is to us. That doesn’t mean a life in a tiny box is ok, just that feedlots can be smaller than you might think without bothering them as long as waste is properly dealt with.
