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Ruminant animals have an important place in Agriculture. They add nutrients back to the soil, and can be raised in land unfit for growing crops. For example, in

Ruminant animals have an important place in Agriculture. They add nutrients back to the soil, and can be raised in land unfit for growing crops. For example, in the UK only 36% of agricultural land is croppable. The rest of the land is perfect for raising cattle and other ruminants. In the USA, 44% of land is for agriculture, but only 17% is arable, 27% serves as pasture land. Only around 10% of a cow's lifetime feed comes from grain, and very little of what they are fed is human consumable. Think leftovers from corn (stalks, etc), leftovers from brewing (malt, oats, all that kind of stuff). Beef is also very nutrient dense, and provides a large % of bioavailable nutrients and amino acids per gram. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arable_land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arable_land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_Kingdom#Arable_farming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_King... https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2097.html https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8791215 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8791215 https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/8s45q879d/9z903258h/qz20sw09p/USCatSup-06-24-2016.pdf https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/... https://www.beefresearch.org/CMDocs/BeefResearch/Sustainability_FactSheet_TopicBriefs/Beef_Sustainability_Facts_042718-07_041618-06.pdf https://www.beefresearch.org/CMDocs/BeefResearch/Sustainabil... https://medium.com/@beefitsfordinner/fao-affirms-cattles-critical-role-as-upcycler-11fd32a3e85 https://medium.com/@beefitsfordinner/fao-affirms-cattles-cri... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_value#Typical_values https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_value#Typical_value...

hinkley 8y ago
As one particularly loud farmer I'm familiar with is fond of saying, there are certain foods that should only be eaten if you have a gizzard. Gizzards can't process all of the things a ruminant can, but there's some overlap. The thing is chickens aren't vegetarians. They're omnivores. We'd be better off if we processed the leftovers through invertibrates (worms, soldier flies) and then fed the invertibrates to the chickens. Same for pigs. And both pathways would still be more efficient than cows.
acjohnson55 8y ago
But how much of our meat is raised on pasture versus in meat factories?
- virtuallynathan 8y ago
  Only about 10-15% of US cattle heads are on feedlots at any given time.

hinkley 8y ago

As one particularly loud farmer I'm familiar with is fond of saying, there are certain foods that should only be eaten if you have a gizzard. Gizzards can't process all of the things a ruminant can, but there's some overlap. The thing is chickens aren't vegetarians. They're omnivores. We'd be better off if we processed the leftovers through invertibrates (worms, soldier flies) and then fed the invertibrates to the chickens. Same for pigs. And both pathways would still be more efficient than cows.

acjohnson55 8y ago

But how much of our meat is raised on pasture versus in meat factories?

virtuallynathan 8y ago
Only about 10-15% of US cattle heads are on feedlots at any given time.