Este deve ser "Old MacDonald tinha uma fazenda", de Mike Resnick, publicado em setembro de 2001 na Asimov's.
Correspondência de @ mimi-joyce descrição:
- um novo rebanho que foi facilmente criado, amadureceu rapidamente, e 100% da criatura era comestível, rica em proteínas e pobre em gordura.
"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. "
- os animais desenvolvem alta inteligência, o poder da fala e capacidade de raciocínio, levantando o dilema moral sobre a criação e abate de uma espécie consciente para alimentar outro.
"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!"
Um link para o texto completo, via The Internet Archive: Old MacDonald teve uma fazenda por Mike Resnick