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To be fair, meat requires tens of thousands of pounds of plants used as feed over the lifetime of the animal (in this case, a cow), which also requires transporting the feed, pumping water to the crops for feed and for the animals to drink, etc. Unfortunately, there simply isn't enough land on earth for all animals to be free range.
a lot of what we give to animals as feed is parts of plants we can't or won't eat,like silage. if we grow and use the part of the plant we want,and we can reclaim some more of the resources through animals,that's good.
As anybody who has spent time working on a farm can attest, whole corn and soybean are some of the primary cattle feed. The majority of all soybean grown in North America is used as cattle feed and corn is a large market segment. The reality is that meat production uses far more land than plant-based alternatives, even adjusted for caloric output. You don't need to believe me as this is a well researched topic and you can find reputable sources for yourself.
can you cite any sources for that?
most cows mostly eat grass for most of their lives. whole corn is fed as a treat to entice them to eat the rest of the silage it's sprinkled on (in my experience).
No. Most cows do not because most cows are not free range.
instead of platitudes, maybe you could provide some facts about cattle diets. maybe a link from the USDA or FAO.
looks to me like cattle get very little of the global soy crop, and most of what is fed to livestock is, as i said, the parts of the plant left over after we've taken what we want for ourselves.
You just shared an infographic which showed that animal feed accounts for 76% of global soy production vs only 20% for direct human food. The point we were discussing was that eating meat is a less efficient use of land which appears to be supported by what you shared.
Judging by the other comments and profile, it's clear that you're not trying to have a discussion in good faith and may be a troll. I'm not going to engage further.
this is poisoning the well and name-calling. what i said is true, whether you want to engage with it or not.
that graphic shows that the feed that is given to animals is almost entirely the industrial waste from oil production. it's called "soy meal" or "soy cake"
making food is a good use of land.