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Cattle are not a luxury, they are literally part of subsistence farming in many regions and an important part of the ecosystem. One of the reasons we have to us

Cattle are not a luxury, they are literally part of subsistence farming in many regions and an important part of the ecosystem. One of the reasons we have to use so much fertilizer is because we stopped letting cattle graze over the fields. Monocrop corn and soy fields are a far bigger problem for sustainability than people think, maybe as bad as industrial animal farming.

splistud 6y ago
History shows that 3 things are important for food security: live animals for milk or slaughter, grain that can be stored, and any local food that can be easily dried. Before we react that food security isn't really a thing anymore, history has something to say about that as well. And yet the foolish are advocating for 2 of these safety nets to be disposed of.
foxyv 6y ago
You are right! If you are a subsistence farmer you NEED to have cows, goats, pigs, and/or chickens to make up for the fact you can't grow 12 months a year and most of what you grow isn't edible by people. However subsistence farming is extremely land inefficient requiring 5 acres per person it feeds. This means that the maximum supportable human population is roughly 2.4 billion using subsistence farming. Also, allowing animals to graze over fields used for growing food results in food borne illness and crop disease. (Usually anthrax and E-coli) Typically if you are going to use animal based fertilizers they must be sterilized and composted ahead of time unless you don't mind poisoning people. Meat IS a luxury though. It's significantly more expensive per calorie than vegetable crops. (At least twice as expensive for the cheapest meat) It also uses about twice as much land as vegetable crops. Often subsistence farmers end up taking animals to market rather than slaughtering and eating themselves because they can get so much more food that way. https://www.primalsurvivor.net/much-land-need-self-sufficient/#:~:text=Even%20though%20a%20lot%20of,and%20a%20long%20growing%20season https://www.primalsurvivor.net/much-land-need-self-sufficien.... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081229200736.htm#:~:text=FULL%20STORY-,Researchers%20have%20discovered%20that%20grazing%20animals%20such%20as%20deer%20and,of%20native%20grasslands%20in%20California https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081229200736.h.... https://extension.psu.edu/common-diseases-of-grazing-beef-cattle https://extension.psu.edu/common-diseases-of-grazing-beef-ca...

splistud 6y ago

History shows that 3 things are important for food security: live animals for milk or slaughter, grain that can be stored, and any local food that can be easily dried. Before we react that food security isn't really a thing anymore, history has something to say about that as well. And yet the foolish are advocating for 2 of these safety nets to be disposed of.

foxyv 6y ago

You are right! If you are a subsistence farmer you NEED to have cows, goats, pigs, and/or chickens to make up for the fact you can't grow 12 months a year and most of what you grow isn't edible by people. However subsistence farming is extremely land inefficient requiring 5 acres per person it feeds. This means that the maximum supportable human population is roughly 2.4 billion using subsistence farming. Also, allowing animals to graze over fields used for growing food results in food borne illness and crop disease. (Usually anthrax and E-coli) Typically if you are going to use animal based fertilizers they must be sterilized and composted ahead of time unless you don't mind poisoning people. Meat IS a luxury though. It's significantly more expensive per calorie than vegetable crops. (At least twice as expensive for the cheapest meat) It also uses about twice as much land as vegetable crops. Often subsistence farmers end up taking animals to market rather than slaughtering and eating themselves because they can get so much more food that way. https://www.primalsurvivor.net/much-land-need-self-sufficient/#:~:text=Even%20though%20a%20lot%20of,and%20a%20long%20growing%20season https://www.primalsurvivor.net/much-land-need-self-sufficien.... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081229200736.htm#:~:text=FULL%20STORY-,Researchers%20have%20discovered%20that%20grazing%20animals%20such%20as%20deer%20and,of%20native%20grasslands%20in%20California https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081229200736.h.... https://extension.psu.edu/common-diseases-of-grazing-beef-cattle https://extension.psu.edu/common-diseases-of-grazing-beef-ca...