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Old 02-08-2012, 11:08 AM   #22
honeythorn
 
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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And where exactly would the remaining cattle, even after tapering off, live? The farms which used to produce cattle would have to be turned over to grain production, and would not have space or facilities for keeping pet cattle. Most people can't keep a cow in the garden, which leaves wild spaces.

Domestic cows are not accustomed to wild life, could have a very real negative impact on wild environments if allowed to roam unchecked .

And since you cannot possibly fence off a single country or area/state/county, or catch and sterilise every single last cow and bull on earth, you would at some point get breeding cattle.

The same scenario goes for sheep, and chickens, and turkeys. Even with a taper off over a number of years, there would never be enough people to house and keep all of these excess animals for the duration of their lives, not any realistic possibility of stopping them multiplying.



Then there's the truly stupendously idiotic vegan and vegetarian ideal of a great deal of the worlds population eventually not eating any meat.

The worlds population is already far too great for the planet to sustain. In order to feed the world even at if the current level of inhabitation remained the same for the next 200 years, you would need to not only convert all meat farms into grain farms, but also destroy a hellish amount of wild areas and forests in order to keep up with the demand for grain and other cereal crops. The current amount of farmland simply would not be able to produce enough to feed everyone and that's with everyone growing some of their own stuff.


Another thing. Land that is grazed GROWS BACK. Plantlife regrows and in some cases grazed grasslands in some areas benefit from that grazing, as the short grass allows certain species ( from mammals to insects to birds ect ) to breed and hunt more easily.

Overworked soil that has had a variety of crops grown in it too many times becomes barren. Different crops use different nutrients, and there is only so many times you can use a piece of earth to grow things before it needs resting and re-fertilisation. On a small plot of land you can rest it for a year and it's usually fine after that until next time.

But on a world wide scale of crop farming? Leaving massive tracts of land for at least 2 years ormore ( depending )to recover would mean greater strain on all other areas to make up the loss. And the only quick way to get soil back to growing condition is to pump it full of chemicals and do all sorts of devilry to it.




The vegetarian and vegan ideal of mostly global non meat consumption is utterly unfeasible and ridiculous.

What would be more realistic and achievable is a REDUCTION , not stoppage of meat farming. What's changed between now and 20'000 years ago is the amount of meat we eat. It's definitely far too much, and usually not the best quality.

What would be best is to drastically reduce herd sizes and frequency of meat cosumption ( NOT stopping altogether ) smaller better kept herds will produce better quality meat on a smaller scale. Smaller herds will be cheaper to keep and easier to manage, and use less land - which should be divided between crop producion and wild habitat renewal ( very wide field margins left for wild plants and trees , more traditional hedgerows ect )

Another thing would be to look at managing the aforememntioned wild deer overpopulation, by consuming more wild venison. Those who wish to shoot their own should be made to take proper shooting courses in order to ensure that the shots are clean, accurate and immediatly fatal ( head or heart ) so the beasts have no time to suffer more than a brief moment of pain.

Shoots should be managed and supervised to ensure no trophy head taking or waste of the bodies/meat.

Re-introducing wild predators into areas where they are currently no longer living, would be unrealistic and dangerous for both the predators and us. The most realistic way to curb overpopulation of edible wild animals ( rabbits and deer are the 2 most common ) is organised legal and supervised hunts.
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