Det här måste vara Mike Resnicks "Old MacDonald hade en gård", som publicerades i september 2001 utgåva av Asimovs.
Matchning från @ mimi-joyce beskrivning:
- Ett nytt flockdjur som lätt avletades, mognades snabbt och 100% av varelsen var ätlig, hög protein och låg fetthalt.
"Caesar MacDonald’s masterpiece was the Butterball, a meat animal that matured at six months of age and could reproduce at eight months, with a four-week gestation period. It weighed four hundred pounds at maturity, and every portion of its body could be consumed by Earth’s starving masses, even the bones. "
- djuren utvecklar hög intelligens, talens kraft och resonemangsförmåga, höjer det moraliska dilemmaet om att skapa och slakta en medveten art för att mata en annan.
"Don’t be that sure," said Julie, who had joined us while I was talking to Cotter. She had an odd expression on her face, like someone who’s just undergone a religious experience and wishes she hadn’t. "Mine looked at me with those soft brown eyes and asked me, very gently and very shyly, not to eat it." I thought Cotter would shit in his expensive suit. "That’s impossible!" "The hell it is!" she shot back. "They are not sentient," he said stubbornly. "They are mimics. They do not think. They do not know what they are saying." He stared at her. "Are you sure he didn’t say ‘feed’? It sounds a lot like ‘eat.’ You’ve got to be mistaken." It made sense. I hoped he was right. " ‘Don’t feed me?’ " repeated Julie. "The only un-hungry Butterball on the farm?" "Some of them speak better than others. He could have been clearing his throat, or trying to say something that came out wrong. I’ve even come across one that stutters." It occurred to me that Cotter was trying as hard to convince himself as he was to convince her. "We’ve tested them a hundred different ways. They’re not sentient. They’re not!"
En länk till hela texten via Internetarkivet: Gamla MacDonald hade en gård av Mike Resnick