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The corn consumed by cattle includes the corn stalks which are more or less the same as consuming grass. Corn is after all in the grass family. The actual kern
by twobitshifter 6y ago
The corn consumed by cattle includes the corn stalks which are more or less the same as consuming grass. Corn is after all in the grass family. The actual kernels of corn increase the calories versus grass, but it’s not like cows are just eating corn off the cob all day long. They need to consume tons of roughage to help with their digestion. I think a good argument is that converting grain and grass to beef is inefficient - if you could have consumed the grain yourself, but the nice thing about cows is that they convert very low calorie foods into high calorie meat that we can consume. If we had to eat what cows do, we’d be chewing all day.
- sjtindell 6y agoIt is well documented that once cows are switched to the pure corn diets we now feed them, their health starts immediately declining and they start dying. Factory farms time it so that they grow up on grass and similar, then are switched to grain to fatten them, and are slaughtered before becoming too ill. There are many unhealthy modifications made to their diet and environment to force them to consume corn. This is detailed lots of places including the book The Omnivores Dilemma. The whole book is essentially about corn and what a horror show industrial agriculture/meat is.
- ricardobeat 6y agoMost countries in the world are not all-in on intensive farming like the US though.
- mvc 6y agoNot yet but that's the way the wind is blowing
- reedjosh 6y agoThe same happens when humans switch to a largely corn diet. Corn and wheat (maybe just grains) just don't seam healthy. If I had to drop meat, I'd primarily eat beans/legumes.
- ricardobayes 6y agoThat's why only Europe has its cuisine based on grains. All other regions base their cuisine on either potatoes or rice.
- sofixa 6y agoPotatoes are a staple in many European countries, and cuisine varies wildly between various European countries.
- mkl 6y agoRice is a grain.
- wooger 6y agoErm, what? Rice is a grain. What do you think they eat in the rest of the world exactly? Pretty sure the Americas & Africa & half of Asia are rather fond of Wheat anyway.
- vram22 6y ago>Asia Yes. Large parts of North and Central India eat wheat a lot, as chapati, roti, paratha, naan, bhatoora, poori, daliya (broken wheat), rava (semolina), etc. Even in South India a good amount of wheat is eaten as rava (rava upma and rava dosai), chapati, poori, parotta, etc.
- oblio 6y agoThose poor Italians, living to 85... Most of European diets are very potato heavy.
- vimacs2 6y agoEvery region in the world that moved beyond the Mesolithic era have a "cuisine based on grains". It's an unfortunate side effect of civilisation.
- canadianfella 6y agoWTF are you talking about?
- hispanic 6y agoNot every farmer feeds their cows corn/grains. Find a local farmer that raises their cattle on pasture and reward them for their efforts.
- chanmad29 6y agoUgh, this is worse than a lot of inhuman cattle farming stuff I've come across.
- krn1p4n1c 6y agoThey don't get silage unless the farmer makes a point of it. Most of the time the stalks and chaff and spit out the back of the combine and tilled under. Furthermore they'd get penalized for it in weighing if its mixed in with the corn so there's little to no incentive for the extra work of it. If the farmer has a small enough herd though they may let them roam on the field afterward, but the big lots don't do that.
- arnoooooo 6y agoIt's also that there's no ecosystem in factory farming. There are methane consuming bacteria in meadows.
- wooger 6y agoSame for monocrop fields of Soy beans, doused in pesticides & chemical fertiliser. There is a better way all around, with a mixture of animals and crops. And you very much need the animal dung to fertilise if we're talking about doing anything postive for the environment.