2 ms·

Isn't almost all range beef "finished" in feedlots? And feedlots are 50% of muscle mass? And the point is that it produces cheaper beef than all-grass? That doe

• jandrewrogers 10y ago
  It depends. Not all range is equal in terms of forage and the flavor of the animal it produces, nor the weight. Some range regions have protein-rich grass that produces nice flavor and weight, other areas need a couple weeks in a feedlot to make the animal (relatively) edible. Similarly, some natural range adds a lot of weight and others are augmented with cereal feeds for the economics to pan out. For others, the economic sweet spot is at a lower weight. One of the critical economic inputs in the mountain west ranges (which tend to have high quality forage) is also water, which is sometimes ignored. There is quite a bit of agricultural economics research on this and the results are surprisingly complex. There are also many areas where the forage is high enough quality that the feedlot finishing is arguably optional even if that is what they do today.
  • jessaustin 10y ago
    Sure there are lots of complexities, but the result is that when I visit federal lands in the West, it's obvious that they are all overgrazed. The price that ranchers pay to graze their cattle on public lands should be raised until overgrazing stops. Until then, my tax dollars are subsidizing my competition in the beef industry, while destroying the environment!