4 ms·

> Cows and goats etc turn sunlight we can't directly eat, the useless shrubbery, into great milk. They can eat useless shrubbery (or more importantly, shrubber

> Cows and goats etc turn sunlight we can't directly eat, the useless shrubbery, into great milk. They can eat useless shrubbery (or more importantly, shrubbery grown on otherwise useless land), but for the most part they are fed on crops that humans could eat or that are grown on land that could grow human-edible crops instead.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago
Not so sure about that. Cows eat a ton of grass. That's typically grown between other crops, or on marginal land.
- ncmncm 5y ago
  Cows can eat lots of grass. But they have to be turned loose to eat it, not penned in a feedlot. The milk cartons that say "grass-fed", at a price premium, ought to hint something to you. BTW, "pasture-raised" on dairy and egg cartons is a totally meaningless, thus deliberately misleading designation. As is "cholesterol-free".
  - slyall 5y ago
    That depends where you live. Some areas (ie New Zealand) have a a much higher percentage of cows spending time outside and getting their feed from grass.
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      Right. Sorry for assuming U.S. circumstances. We actually have milk sold in supermarkets labeled "grass-fed" and costing up to twice as much as the "regular" milk. I sometimes forget how weird the U.S. is. In normal places, grass is the cheapest thing to feed cows on. So, I buy all my cheese and butter from Europe and New Zealand. In the US, in order to compete with dairies feeding cows massively federally subsidized corn, they have to label normal milk as "grass-fed". The cows fed corn have to also be fed antibiotics, because eating just corn makes them sick. And, of course, the corn is grown with copious pesticides. Cows are also fed cottonseed meal, which also makes them sick. Cotton is grown with pesticides not allowed on food crops, for reasons. U.S. corn production is so heavily subsidized, they had to start turning it into sugar, and then pumping that into practically all food, to try to use it up. The Feds further subsidize turning it into alcohol, and require refiners to add that to all the gasoline. Archer Daniels Midland is the main beneficiary of the alcohol subsidy.
      - entropyie 5y ago
        Yep, all cow milk in Ireland is grass fed, they don't even bother putting it on the label as it's assumed... Just wish pork and chicken were the same story... (They're not free range as a rule here)
  - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
    Nope. Hay.
    - ncmncm 5y ago
      Hay is a grass.
      - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
        ...and they're fed it in a feedlot. The entire point of 'making hay'
        ncmncm 5y ago
        Cows in US feedlots are not, as a rule, only or even mostly fed hay.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago

Not so sure about that. Cows eat a ton of grass. That's typically grown between other crops, or on marginal land.

ncmncm 5y ago
Cows can eat lots of grass. But they have to be turned loose to eat it, not penned in a feedlot. The milk cartons that say "grass-fed", at a price premium, ought to hint something to you. BTW, "pasture-raised" on dairy and egg cartons is a totally meaningless, thus deliberately misleading designation. As is "cholesterol-free".
- slyall 5y ago
  That depends where you live. Some areas (ie New Zealand) have a a much higher percentage of cows spending time outside and getting their feed from grass.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    Right. Sorry for assuming U.S. circumstances. We actually have milk sold in supermarkets labeled "grass-fed" and costing up to twice as much as the "regular" milk. I sometimes forget how weird the U.S. is. In normal places, grass is the cheapest thing to feed cows on. So, I buy all my cheese and butter from Europe and New Zealand. In the US, in order to compete with dairies feeding cows massively federally subsidized corn, they have to label normal milk as "grass-fed". The cows fed corn have to also be fed antibiotics, because eating just corn makes them sick. And, of course, the corn is grown with copious pesticides. Cows are also fed cottonseed meal, which also makes them sick. Cotton is grown with pesticides not allowed on food crops, for reasons. U.S. corn production is so heavily subsidized, they had to start turning it into sugar, and then pumping that into practically all food, to try to use it up. The Feds further subsidize turning it into alcohol, and require refiners to add that to all the gasoline. Archer Daniels Midland is the main beneficiary of the alcohol subsidy.
    - entropyie 5y ago
      Yep, all cow milk in Ireland is grass fed, they don't even bother putting it on the label as it's assumed... Just wish pork and chicken were the same story... (They're not free range as a rule here)
- JoeAltmaier 5y ago
  Nope. Hay.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    Hay is a grass.
    - JoeAltmaier 5y ago
      ...and they're fed it in a feedlot. The entire point of 'making hay'
      - ncmncm 5y ago
        Cows in US feedlots are not, as a rule, only or even mostly fed hay.