Unfortunately, I don’t think it is true that “they would be taken better care of as a matter of course due to how scarce resources are.” Our current model of animal agriculture is to operate the system incredibly efficiently overall but with no regard for the welfare of the individual animal. “Animal health” is a billion dollar industry constantly optimizing this. The animals are kept alive with drugs and careful diets but live short lives of physical and mental distress until their bodies quickly reach slaughter age. I imagine this system in space would be even more suffering-causing and unnatural than dark sheds. Chickens that died, for example, in a space CAFO would probably just be recycled to more chicken feed.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it is true that “they would be taken better care of as a matter of course due to how scarce resources are.” Our current model of animal agriculture is to operate the system incredibly efficiently overall but with no regard for the welfare of the individual animal. “Animal health” is a billion dollar industry constantly optimizing this. The animals are kept alive with drugs and careful diets but live short lives of physical and mental distress until their bodies quickly reach slaughter age. I imagine this system in space would be even more suffering-causing and unnatural than dark sheds. Chickens that died, for example, in a space CAFO would probably just be recycled to more chicken feed.