this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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I heard something to do with Nitrogen and …cow farts(?) I am really unsure of this and would like to learn more.

Answer -

4 Parts

  • Ethical reason for consuming animals
  • Methane produced by cows are a harmful greenhouse gas which is contributing to our current climate crisis
  • Health Reasons - there is convincing evidence that processed meats cause cancer
  • it takes a lot more calories of plant food to produce the calories we would consume from the meat.

Details about the answers are in the comments

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[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 33 points 2 years ago (2 children)

A lot more water to make the food for cows than what humans consume.

A lot more food to feed a cow than what it would take to feed the human the same type of food.

And the growth of that food to keep feeding these animals in large batch is pretty much creating dead areas of land that gets ruined if it’s not carefully monitored. And the run off into the water supply is a problem. This is why industrial level of farming is really really bad for the environment.

You’re supposed to move cattle around in pastures for regrowth and not entirely decimate it. The capitalists do not care about that until a court summons tells them to care about that.

Currently there’s some better methods however the consumption stays high.

Health wise : all meat diets (meat at every meal) can produce issues in your body.

Cured meat or heavy salted meat can lead to heart issues and kidney stones.

You should mix in some fruit and vegetables and maybe even substitute some entire meals so that meat is consumed only a few times a week if only for your body’s sake. Your taste buds aren’t the same organ as your heart. They aren’t the organs that make your body stay alive.

[–] Nuklia@lemdro.id 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

A lot more food to feed a cow than what it would take to feed the human the same type of food.

But humans don't eat the same type of food, I don't think you'll want to eat grass, hay or silage

[–] Firemyth@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The point is that you can grow a plant based diet for a human for much less resource cost than you could for a cow.

Multiplied by the amount our current meat industry runs at and you get decimation of large swaths of lands, much higher emission of greenhouse gasses, etc...

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

animals are fed parts of plants that people can't or won't eat. all of the studies about the ecological impacts ignore this fact and then attribute the water used to produce, say, cotton to beef.

[–] Firemyth@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] Firemyth@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your argument- as that publication back what we are saying about the beef industry having a massive impact on the environment

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

read the methodology and you will see cottonseed is fed to cattle, and the water to grow that cotton is attributed to cows instead of the textile industry.

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Except cows are primarily fed corn in the US.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago

no, they're not

[–] Firemyth@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Still not getting it- if the cottonseed is fed to the cows why do you think the water should be attributed to textiles?

Cottonseed fed to cows is obviously not going to be grown into cotton and used in textiles...

Also I can't find mention of cottonseed at all in there.

[–] Firemyth@lemm.ee -1 points 2 years ago

Ok... so the water is going to be used regardless- it's still making the product that goes to feed cows... I guess I'm just not really understanding the base point you are making.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 2 years ago

the cottonseed is a byproduct of growing cotton for textiles and it would be industrial waste if it weren't fed to cattle

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

~This is simply false. Cows are often fed all or nearly all corn diets.~

Only once they are on the feed lot, then they are fed usually 70-80% corn based diets.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

animals are fed parts of plants that people can't or won't eat. all of the studies about the ecological impacts ignore this fact and then attribute the water used to produce, say, cotton to beef.

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

~This is false. Cows in the US are primarily fed corn. Not the can't/won't eat stuff.~

Edit: I am wrong. They said only fed about 8% human edible grain.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

most cows eat mostly grass most of their lives. they also eat silage. and yes there is corn, but that's not the bulk of any cows diet

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not in industrial farms. There is no grass there. They don't bring hay.

It's literally a sales pitch in the US to disambiguate corn fed and grass fed cattle.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

you just don't know what you're talking about. cattle are raised in the field and then finished on feed lots.

grass fed just means that the cattle were only fed grass. but all cattle eat grass

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Only until they are weaned. Then onto the feed lot they go and corn they eat.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

so you are now admitting that literally all cattle eat grass, but trying to pretend your akshully still right. I guess plenty of toxicity flowed off of reddit.

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You know what. I went and read more about it and you are right about the grass.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago

that's big of you.

[–] Nuklia@lemdro.id 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I know that what you did say is wrong but here is some extra stuff about cattle in other places and how you are kind of right.

Where I live (the U.k.) and the farms around me where there isn't really factory farming like there is in other places. Yes, I understand there is factory farming in the U.K. but it doesn't happen in the area that I live in, that I'm aware of. In these farms around me the dairy cows (only ones I have proper evidence for) will graze grass or eat hay when it is warm and will eat silage in the winter.

Also, especially in Alberta, where you can't grow corn as easily, they are raised on grass and "finished" with barley

However you are right that cows are fed on mosltly corn BUT this is to finsish them and is mostly in the corn belt of the U.S.A. and other parts of the world where it is easy to grow corn.

[–] fkn@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

95% of all cattle feed is corn in the US. Raised to 600lbs or so before being put on the feed lot. Finishing in this case can be the final 400-600lbs fed on 95% corn.

About 40% of all corn grown in the US is grown exclusively for feed nearly all of which is used within the US.

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

won’t eat

Is not the point of the argument when we’re taking about what humans shouldn't eat. We can’t cater to wants anymore when growing percentage are starving.

can’t eat

Which is bullshit. We didn’t invent their diet. we substituted it. They might eat grass but we eat plenty of other green substitutes. The amount we consume of it doesn’t come close to their needs though.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

cows eat mostly grass but, for instance, poultry are fed a lot of soy. that soy is usually (almost always) in the form of so-called "soy meal" or "soy cake", but that is actually a waste product from pressing soybeans for oil. it would be industrial waste if we didn't feed it to livestock.

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Soy oil is only one form of oil that humans can use. One of many. none of this argues the points put forward. It still requires much more water than if we stuck to humans eating less meat. And it not even requiring for people to completely cut out meat. Which has more pros for both humans and cows than cons.