Eating animal protein is not inextricably linked to factory farms.  This is merely a deflection vegans and animal welfare extremists use when biological reality confronts their sentiment-driven "humane" shrieking and flailing.

For most of my adult life I've eaten primarily fish, sheep and goat, and to a lesser degree poultry.  Before moving to Alaska I slaughtered and butchered sheep, goat and the occasional turkey for my and my family's table.  The animals were raised humanely, and when the time came, they were slaughtered humanely, such that struggling and stress were minimal.

And your maudlin sentiments are simply irrelevant to the reality that some animals eat plants, some eat fungi, some eat other animals and some eat all three.  It's not a question of "promoting" suffering, it's a question of suffering being unavoidably linked with EATING.  EVERYTHING that is consumed by a living thing is LIKEWISE a living thing.  Don't want to contribute to suffering?  Stop eating.