That's not the point. It's about the pipeline. Once the pipeline empties, it takes months to fill back up, because animals take months to grow to marketable si

That's not the point. It's about the pipeline. Once the pipeline empties, it takes months to fill back up, because animals take months to grow to marketable size. Edit: to expand a bit, most meat animals are raised by a supply chain of specialized farms. Some specialize in breeding and birthing them, some specialize in raising them to marketable size (these are called "feeder" operations), and finally they go to a slaughterhouse/processing operation. If the slaughterhouse stops buying animals from the feeder operation, the feeder operation has to kill them and waste them. Now the feeder isn't buying feeder-sized animals, so the breeder has to slaughter and waste them. Now the supply chain is completely empty. When the processor opens back up after a few months, that doesn't magically cause market-sized animals to appear, waiting to be turned into meat. The breeder will have to breed more animals and wait weeks to months for those animals to be born. Then the feeder will have to feed them for weeks to months to reach marketable size. Only then can they go to the processor to be slaughtered and sent to consumers. So, yeah, if the supply chain empties out, it is a Bad Thing.