We had a similar response (although not quite as drastic) when we said we ate our excess roosters. We just calmly asked them what they thought the chicken from the shops they were eating was. You can see the penny drop then.
I wonder if having a photo ready to show of how factory farmed animals have to live would get them thinking a bit more?
My father was in advertising, and had occasion to visit a client's processing plant. Live chickens from a shed in one end, frozen tv dinners out the other. Suddenly he was a proponent of free range and organic eggs and chickens, and not one more tv dinner entered our house.
Nothing like a smack in the face by reality! And I'm guessing he taught his children why he didn't agree with tv dinners and cage produced.
this is so true! A lot of people just don't know or just don't care where their food comes from. The sad thing is that the animals that they want to buy from the store has a really bad life then a bad slow death in a lot of cases. We believe that you should offer the best life you can to your animals before it is time for them to serve their purpose.