I didn't say they were starved, I know that they are fed and fattened. What I said was that those who are sent to the sales because they are injured are made to endure those injuries for whatever their distance and duration till the end. People who think it is a good way to put down an animal that is injured and suffering should know that it is not.
But you can't dope them up on pheno or chloral, if you do they sit it off in pasture for a specified time. Sometimes this means injuries fester and it makes them worthless. Usually it means you have to drive out to the field in the forklift and carry the half-dead animal into the plant.
I'm sure there are avoidable abuses. But some are not, in the eyes of the industry. Personally, I would just shoot the poor animal and put it to rest with the backhoe. But many don't have the ability to do that, and have to dispose of them somehow. How would you suggest they go about doing that? The horsemeat industry, at least theoretically, allows an option that most can live with. Do you have another?