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Go look at the land that's being used as open range pasture out west. If it was not being used for grazing cattle, it would not be used for anything anyway. Mo
by megaman22 8y ago
Go look at the land that's being used as open range pasture out west. If it was not being used for grazing cattle, it would not be used for anything anyway.
Most of it was buffalo country two hundred years ago, so it's not like it's really changed.
- GW150914 8y agoBack in “the day” 20 to 30 million bison roamed the US. Today there are more than 94 million cattle in the US, and that’s actually down from a peak of 130+ million in the mid seventies. A lot has changed! Those bison were also wild, lived much much longer lives than farmed cattle which spend part of their lives in feed lots. The bison were also part of the broader ecosystem, hunted by wolves, and in general a net negative emitter. The modern cow is not, especially when time on feed lots and eventual transportation pre-post slaughter are factored in. Modern cattle are after all, part of an industry which pollutes in addition to the cows themselves, while bison just lived and died on the plains.
- AngryData 8y agoYou should also factor in the fact that the average buffalo are bigger than the average cow. Buffalo are around the size of a holstein cow, the most common dairy cow, but most of the meat cattle we raise are near half the size/weight of them.
- gweinberg 8y agoYeah, the chart gives the impression that land is land, and we just decide how to use it. But there are good reasons land is used the way it is. Farmland in the midwest is really really flat, with thick rich soil. A lot of forest land is pretty steeply sloped, with not so much soil. And so on.
- tomjakubowski 8y agoIn other words: even if mushrooms grow on it, land is not fungible.
- tomcam 8y agoI’m sorry, we’re going to shadowban your account for excessive dad jokes ;)