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> There are ~30M cattle in the US at any given time That number is the count of full grown cattle, 31M. When you include calves, it's 98M total in the US. It i
by Maursault 5y ago
> There are ~30M cattle in the US at any given time
That number is the count of full grown cattle, 31M. When you include calves, it's 98M total in the US. It isn't easy to realize just how nauseating that truly is.
There's roughly 330M people in the US. One cow will feed 2300 people 3oz of beef, which is the most meat one may eat in a sitting and still be considered healthy (though I personally disagree, no amount of red meat is healthy IMO). 360M / 31M comes out to around 10 people per cow, which will feed them once a day 3oz for 230 days. So the US has enough beef to serve every man, woman and child a a 3oz steak serving once every 38 hours, all year long.
Of course, nothing close to this amount is actually consumed, and at least 23% of it is entirely wasted in production, 7.1M cattle annually are effectively turned into garbage before product can hit store shelves.
- azinman2 5y agoYou’re forgetting that the US exports beef, and also turns it into other products such as dog food. You also need to feed people all over again next year, and it’s not like we’re all eating <1 year old cows.
- Maursault 5y ago14% of US beef is exported, but if the beef industry disappeared overnight, no one would starve as a result, and neither would the ~70M dogs in the US, which are omnivores btw. And typically slaughter occurs between 12 and 22 months, so it's more accurate to snark "it's not like you're all eating >2 year old cows."
- sbakzbsmx 5y agoThat doesnt sound right. I’m sure I eat, on average, at least 6 oz/ day. I estimate I eat anywhere between 50-100 kg/ year or somewhere between 5-10 oz a day. Probably closer to around 7. Or about three times your estimate.
- Maursault 5y agoNot for long. :( And we hardly knew you. May you rest in heavenly peace.
- sbakzbsmx 5y agoI mean, we’re all going to die. None of us have very long to live. We shall all become dust.
- Maursault 5y agoThis is known as fatalism, and included in this is the clearly false belief that we as individuals have no power to influence our future nor the outcome of our actions. Life is indeed short, but this is not a justification for nihilism, a mistaken belief system that is ultimately harmful to the individual and society. We need all the help we can get, and the Universe will be poorer and less interesting without you. So please consider sticking around longer and effect this by treating yourself and your body better. Undoubtedly there are those that love you and that you love, and you have a duty to do so to yourself and them, at the very least.
- macinjosh 5y agoYou do not get to decide what other people should eat.
- Maursault 5y agoApparently my original point was entirely lost here, which was not to say, "hey, you can't eat beef!" But to say, ffs, this is an insane amount of excess! We don't need 31M cattle, we'd probably do just fine on the 7M that get turned into garbage, and maybe they wouldn't be if there were less of them and more care given, if, say, humanity could somehow precede profit. But please do not deceive yourself, most eat beef because they were programmed to by the beef industry marketing drilled into them since childhood, which taught us that meat was an essential nutritional staple, which was always false, but it helped to sell a lot of beef and continues to help warm things up for everyone everywhere. Also, I didn't decide anything. Science decided that all those cows are the source of upwards of 4% of US greenhouse emissions, and science also decided that eating beef massively increases risk of type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, colon cancer, and, uh, oh yeah, death. And though there would be no greenhouse emissions nor any health risk to you or others in so doing, I have decided neither you nor anyone else anywhere should eat my toenail clippings.
- cycrutchfield 5y agoPlease spare us the sanctimoniousness, it only detracts from your points.
- Maursault 5y agoPlease accept my humble apology for offending you and any others with my sincere attempt at being truthful. It was not my intent in the least to evoke your ad hominem. I do appreciate that you recognized and acknowledge my argument as sound despite unfortunate self-righteousness of which I admit I was unaware. If you could see yourself to overlooking my error, I will endeavor to be more careful next time.
- cycrutchfield 5y agoObserving that your original post came across as excessively sanctimonious is an ad hominem?
- Maursault 5y agoUnless it spoke only to my argument and not towards me personally, then by definition, yes. But I can take it, I'm made of sterner stuff, so no harm done.