I'm not sure how much this point matters, because the alternative isn't a field of rotting grass. If the land is undeveloped, the alternative is likely some kin

I'm not sure how much this point matters, because the alternative isn't a field of rotting grass. If the land is undeveloped, the alternative is likely some kind of forest. If the land is developed, the alternative is probably cropland. Also to be clear, we're not just talking grass, there's also a massive amount of industrially farmed grains to fatten the them up, which wouldn't have been industrially farmed if it wasn't demanded for feeding cattle. So there's no real equivalence here.