We live in a time when the standard diet is calorie rich and nutrition poor...We live in a time when grain (corn) is a huge commodity..Its storable, portable, fungible...It can be acumulated , its a form of wealth, its also a weapon, the nation with the biggest surplus for grain has always held the most power over the ones in short supply.....this can not be said about grass..You see grain supports the larger economy, the chemical and biotech industries, the oil industry, Detroit and the pharmacueticals...without phamacueticals industry, just couldn't keep the animals healthy..Grass farmers use little to no pesticides or fertilizers, they do little to support the agribuisness or the pharmacueticals...grass does nothing for the nations power or balance of payments and no farmer gets subsidized for using grass not like the corn growers do....Grass can't be broken down into a myriad of molecules to be rearraanged into a cornucopia of processed foods.ONLY meat,milk and fiber is about all you can get out of grass and the only way to do this is with a living organism....Grass feed i'm afraid dosen't oil the hub of industry and Indsutry has no use for things it can't bend to its bottom line........Industry Rules the day.........The idea of the grass fed animal is maybe nothing more than a really good story........


discuss......

So rather then making money, jobs and more for people... Why is it bad to feed corn to animals?

I actually think they genetically designed some corn to resist bugs and such, so they wouldn't have to use as much on the crops. These crops as you say are in much need and help millions.

I don't understand how corn can be bad but at the same time grass is god too......as long as the animals are fed right?

Geri, Cows are herbivores, not grain eaters....they have been turned into grain eaters at much peril to there health and ours....


Cows that are natural herbivores are fed corn (grain) pumped full of antibiotics becasue they are so sick from the diet they eat???? Do you have any idea the disease and sickness these animals endure???????Do you care??????I doubt if there is any organic meat.....This practice of feeding corn to cows is the light bulb moment of the gov't.......


The truth is a animal that is feed grain isn't gonna have any measure of health after about 150 days, their systems can't handle it, the first thing that happens is they bloat remember the rumen i mentioned , the corn produces a horrendous amount of gas in the rumen which would normally be released through belching by runminatioin, but there diets contain way too much starch and not enough roughage and the rumen inflates like a balloon and a foamy slime forms and that traps the gas until it presses against the animals lungs, unless action is taken immediatlely the animal will suffocate, (the action usually taken is a hose forced down the animals esophogas to release the gas....)


A concentrated diet of corn can give an animal acidosis, a cows rumen is neutral unlike ours which is acid , corn is acidic and it creates a kind of heartburn that can kill the animal, but it ususally makes them sick ..Acidotic animals go off their feed, pant and salivate excessively, paw and scratch their bellies and eat dirt..This often leads to diarreah, ulcers, bloat, rumentitis,liver disease, and general weaking of the immune sytem that leaves the animal at peril for a myriad of feedlot disease such as pneumonia, coccidiosis, enterotoxemia, feedlot polio...Just like humans animals are susceptatble to all sorts of disease too.....more often than not this diet blows out there livers, over time the acid eats throught he rumen wall and the bacterias enter the animals blood stream, these microbes end up in the liver which impairs the livers funtions...So you see antiobiotics are needed for some semblence of kindness to these animals.....--------------------

umm corn is a grass justl ike bamboo is a grass..... think about that

Robbie corn is a GRAIN........Do you know why a cow eats grass???????

grass is a grain. and corn is a grass crazy right? no. because u need to remebmer that a grain is a grass not all grasses are grains though. look it up. a corn is a type of tall grass liek bambo. corn is a cerael grain. a grain is a wheat and a wheat is a grass.

a cow natualry will eat any plant it can get. the bulk of its diet however is garss.

there are more than just cows that are feed grain such as horses for example

Robbie inventive use of logic but no a grass isn't a grass is a grass.......I'm a bit tired so I'll psot the reason tomorrow....

What's the difference

there isnt a diffrence ur either and herbivore carnivore omnivore decomposer scavanger or parasite (endo or ecto) cows are herbivores.

Theres quite a difference, a cow isn't a grain eater and that is what they will eat the majority of their lifes, they will get grass the first few weeks of life only in preperation for the feedlot. a animal that is almost only fed grain gets sick relatively fast within 150 days of its life..the reason corn is used is becasue it fattens up the cow very fast a grass fed animal takes alot longer years actually and the more grain the more Omega 3 is depleted and the 'protien is a very poor quality...the only country that exclusively grass feeds there animals is Argentina...i am in the process of researching just what ranchers are actually grass feeding ...what companys ..Nutrition is a wholeness philosophy its not seperate little compartments , if the soil is infertile and the cow is malnourished and the water is polluted it will trickle to the person eating the food.....Most other countrys see no line between heatlth and food ....Americans for some reason don't make the connection YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT..........I'm not looking to debate just putting out info.....

sherri CORN IS A GRASS! Zea Mays is CORN!!!!!! I WIN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teosinte

SO LIKE I SAID GRASS IS A GRAIN GRAIN IS WHEAT GRASS IS A WHEAT SO CORN IS A WHEAT CORN IS A GRAIN AND CORN IS A GRASS HAHA so haha yea that right for dinner i had grass yea i had corn so there.

but didnt you also say..you dont care for online info...when someone posts you a link to read you say its .....garbage.....buut when it suits you whuuoops there it is

i never said that i said i dont liek surveys and out dated sites. whops there it is READ NEXT TIME. u people get realy anoying after a while. ur refering to when i was given a site that had a bunch of surveys done from 1970 till 1994 on adhd no one accepts anything realy that came from that time frame on adhd all new studies say its genetisc and i showed u liek 3 sites saying that. and when i was givne some weird doctors perosnal site and her weird view of adhd and ever other thing on earth. she seemss more like a televangelist thne a doctor sorry if i didnt accecpt her twisted views. i give sites that are up to date and accurate. dont get mad at me for not accpeting the same and i explaned why i dont liek surveys many times. (statics made me realise that there usualy crap)

They are only CRAP to you LOL you select what you want to believe...cuz I gave you links (UPDATED ONES) and you refused to believe them too

On the other hand I agree with you on the corn and grass issue...but at the same time can see what Sheri is talking about...

robbie got you sheri

Corn is actually a grass...a C4 monocot. Grass seeds are the equivalent of corn Throw some corn on the ground in front of some grazing cow, they will eat it up. Same with pigs

Psh tell me i dont know my biology, and what lol

Yo guys it's not a contest as to who know more about this and that...and FYI Sheri is a highly educated woman....never underestimate her

translated - psh tell me I don't know how to google biology and what lol

Maize and Alfalfa crops here grown specifically to feed animals and great care is taken to make sure it's healthy for the animals, or their crops don't get sold. Something else too but can't recall atm. Bunch of animal/biology freaks out here at the aggie depot.

or u knwo when u major in zoology u learn some bio too

Zea mays indentata is the main variety grown commercially for grain and fodder, but there are other types, of zea Mays ( technically of the grasses family) but ....Stay with the class here robbie and frog we are discussing Zea mays Indentata corn /grain that is fed to herbivores, In simple english this isn't the grass these animals should be eating... do you two know what a rumen is????? No frog a cow would not just eat corn unless it had been taught too......And after about 150 days without antibiotics the cow would not eat the grain at all.....



It kind of goes with the human is an omnivore it can eat meat, it can smoke cigarettes it can pour cups of oil and sugars down its throat, it can eat corn fed meat but at too what peril.....this is what this thread is about...... ..do you guys even care about waht you eat????Frog how do you feel about a fish eating corn???????they are being bred to do that???what does a fish eat naturally????that is what we are talking about.....

From Cornell University Science News:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97...estock.hrs.html


MONTREAL -- From one ecologist's perspective, the American system of farming
grain-fed livestock consumes resources far out of proportion to the yield, accelerates soil erosion, affects world food supply and will be changing in the future.

"If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million," David Pimentel, Professor of Ecology in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, reported at the July 24-26 meeting of the Canadian Society of Animal Science in Montreal. Or, if those grains were exported, it would boost the U.S. trade balance by $80 billion a year, Pimentel estimated.

With only grass-fed livestock, individual Americans would still get more than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of meat and dairy protein, according to Pimentel's report, "Livestock Production: Energy Inputs and the Environment."

An environmental analyst and longtime critic of waste and inefficiency in agricultural practices, Pimentel depicted grain-fed livestock farming as a costly and nonsustainable way to produce animal protein. He distinguished grain-fed meat production from pasture-raised livestock, calling cattle-grazing a more reasonable use of marginal land.

Animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than the comparable amount of plant protein, according to the Cornell ecologist's analysis.

Tracking food animal production from the feed trough to the dinner table, Pimentel found broiler chickens to be the most efficient use of fossil energy, and beef, the least. Chicken meat production consumes energy in a 4:1 ratio to protein output; beef cattle production requires an energy input to protein output ratio of 54:1. (Lamb meat production is nearly as inefficient at 50:1, according to the ecologist's analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. Other ratios range from 13:1 for turkey meat and 14:1 for milk protein to 17:1 for pork and 26:1 for eggs.)

Animal agriculture is a leading consumer of water resources in the United States, Pimentel noted. Grain-fed beef production takes 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food. Raising broiler chickens takes 3,500 liters of water to make a kilogram of meat. In comparison, soybean production uses 2,000 liters for kilogram of food produced; rice, 1,912; wheat, 900; and potatoes, 500 liters. "Water shortages already are severe in the Western and Southern United States and the situation is quickly becoming worse because of a rapidly growing U.S. population that requires more water for all of its needs, especially agriculture," Pimentel observed.

Livestock are directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil erosion in the United States, the ecologist determined. On lands where feed grain is produced, soil loss averages 13 tons per hectare per year. Pasture lands are eroding at a slower pace, at an average of 6 tons per hectare per year. But erosion may exceed 100 tons on severely overgrazed pastures, and 54 percent of U.S. pasture land is being overgrazed.

"More than half the U.S. grain and nearly 40 percent of world grain is being fed to livestock rather than being consumed directly by humans," Pimentel said. "Although grain production is increasing in total, the per capita supply has been decreasing for more than a decade. Clearly, there is reason for concern in the future."


EIGHT MEATY FACTS ABOUT ANIMAL FOOD

From "Livestock Production: Energy Inputs and the Environment"

By David Pimentel

-- WHERE'S THE GRAIN? The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the entire American population.

-- HERBIVORES ON THE HOOF. Each year an estimated 41 million tons of plant protein is fed to U.S. livestock to produce an estimated 7 million tons of animal protein for human consumption. About 26 million tons of the livestock feed comes from grains and 15 million tons from forage crops. For every kilogram of high-quality animal protein produced, livestock are fed nearly 6 kg of plant protein.

-- FOSSIL FUEL TO FOOD FUEL. On average, animal protein production in the U.S. requires 28 kilocalories (kcal) for every kcal of protein produced for human consumption. Beef and lamb are the most costly, in terms of fossil fuel energy input to protein output at 54:1 and 50:1, respectively. Turkey and chicken meat production are the most efficient (13:1 and 4:1, respectively). Grain production, on average, requires 3.3 kcal of fossil fuel for every kcal of protein produced. The U.S. now imports about 54 percent of its oil; by the year 2015, that import figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

-- THIRSTY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. U.S. agriculture accounts for 87 percent of all the fresh water consumed each year. Livestock directly use only 1.3 percent of that water. But when the water required for forage and grain production is included, livestock's water usage rises dramatically. Every kilogram of beef produced takes 100,000 liters of water. Some 900 liters of water go into producing a kilogram of wheat. Potatoes are even less "thirsty," at 500 liters per kilogram.

-- HOME ON THE RANGE. More than 302 million hectares of land are devoted to producing feed for the U.S. livestock population -- about 272 million hectares in pasture and about 30 million hectares for cultivated feed grains.

-- DISAPPEARING SOIL. About 90 percent of U.S. cropland is losing soil -- to wind and water erosion -- at 13 times above the sustainable rate. Soil loss is most severe in some of the richest farming areas; Iowa loses topsoil at 30 times the rate of soil formation. Iowa has lost one-half its topsoil in only 150 years of farming -- soil that took thousands of years to form.

-- PLENTY OF PROTEIN: Nearly 7 million tons (metric) of animal protein is produced annually in the U.S. -- enough to supply every American man, woman and child with 75 grams of animal protein a day. With the addition of 34 grams of available plant protein, a total of 109 grams of protein is available per capita. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) per adult per day is 56 grams of protein for a mixed diet.

-- OUT TO PASTURE. If all the U.S. grain now fed to livestock were exported and if cattlemen switched to grass-fed production systems, less beef would be available and animal protein in the average American diet would drop from 75 grams to 29 grams per day. That, plus current levels of plant-protein consumption, would still yield more than the RDA for protein.

***************************************************************************

My sincerest apologies to Robbie because this article wasn't written this morning or yesterday or even in 2006, so according to Robbie, its value is questionable at best.

And, Robbie, perhaps if you lost your obnoxious, arrogant attitude and tried to contribute productively to the discussion, you might not incur as much counterproductive conflict and negativitity.
****************************************

thanks micheal, excellent point grain fed is the least efficent way to feed the majority in the bigger picture...


the topsoil is depleted meaning it has no nutritive value....that is why it is recommended for the vegan to be sure to find a good source of B-12...b-12 came from the soil...I'm not convinced its coming in the meat ...my undestanding is a grain fed animal will eventually blow out its liver and the liver never works at optimal ability anyways its usually riddled with lesions and tumours..... i wouldn't trust that b-12 is in the meat......as a meat eater I'd look into that just to be sure....Just my 2 cents


also the waters are horrible especially here in Calif....Our water is contaminated the newest concern is percholate and it may concern some since we supply alot of the milk...percholate causes the thyroid to malfunction and its very serious in a growing child.......It seriously concerns me how much more damage a child can handle......In our whole foods stores warnings are posted on milk...i suspect warning labels will be added to the carton.......

how does what mklsql posted, from 1 (one) ecologists perspective, tie in? I don't see a problem from that article.

Only thing I've seen so far is a localized misery type situation. The Feed Lots remind me of inner cities.

"Only thing I've seen so far is a localized misery type situation. The Feed Lots remind me of inner cities."

-Cel... I think you're correct in pointing this towards where it's most obvious, and that is in urban and suburban America--especially the east and west coasts. 10 miles off of the coasts are garbage dumps, literally. If you live near the beaches, just get up early in the morning (before the local chamber of commerce has time to clean it) and take a look at what washes up onshore. In suburban Phila where I grew up (like N. Jersey and S. Conn.), there used to be all kinds of farms and fresh produce/meat/dairy was abundant but now they're all gone, supplanted by gated communities full of $650,000+ houses. Food markets are all about product placement (brand recognition) and not nutrition. Whole Foods and others like Trader Joes (corporate organic markets) are finding a niche within the industry but it's still a very small one.
Perhaps you have better access to clear air, clean water and healthy meat/dairy/produce than the 30 million or so who live in the larger US metropolitan areas.

I just moved to South Florida from the Northeast 2 weeks ago and I can already sense the difference.

i have no problem with scientific facts about articles i do howeever have problems with articles that are entirly out dated if you compare thme to current ones that ocndridict everything the other one said like in the adhd one where in one old article it siad diet plays a part and in all the new ones it says it is not diet related at all. this article gives facts that cnat be denied by anyone and i accept this article my only point was corn is a grass. all i said originaly was corn was a grass and sherri told me no so i proved her wrong. thne me and frog fish joked its people like u more thne people liek me who dont joke and just get angry that make life miserable. stress kills more young people then meat my friend relax breath calm. i have siad when i am wrong many times on this fourm ask frogfish i will never bakc down however when i know im right so dont think you can make me.

Translation??? Anyone?

Haha, learn some biology sheri...maybe a HS level course. Cows are HERBIVORES. Last time I checked, herbivores eat GRAINS. Animals just don't eat grass alone. My Grandfather has a farm in India Sheri, you don't have experience in these matters. Throw a banana peel, corn, even some banana leaves and my cows and oxen will eat them up.

the thing to remember is cows are grazers. they eat any of a number of plants gorwing on the ground. just becuase ur lawn is kentuckey blue grass odenst mean that wild fields are they are a mixture of flowers small shrubs grasses of many types and so on. a cow will go and just grab any food it can when it bites down. they arent discrete on what they eat. and i think i have proven that corn is a grass so when they eat the corn basicly the nutrients in that will be similar to that of and grass. if u siad they are missing diversity thne maby i would agree but corn isnt the problem. and cattle have the same effects on the enviorments as bufflao they wear the groud the same way eat the same parts of the plant and have similar dropings due to the four chambered stomach(and i would liek to point out plants are harder to digest thats why horse and cow and elephant and dropings can be looked at and seen that they have grass sticxking out and stuff. remember elephants often have constipation due ot there high fiber diet) buffalo lived in giant herds too more then the numbers of cattle around now.

Question (one that I would ask Sheri but since sheri dont eat meat i'll ask you)....

Can you tell the difference in the meat from a cow that was grass fed from the cow that was just fed corn??

I was reading up on it and read that a lot of people can tell the difference

some people cna its weird. some people cant tell the diffrence between 1% and 2% milk i can. if you dont plant the idea in there mind first they wont realise the diffrence. the resason somep eopel cna is because "grass fed" arent only eating grass there eating alot of diffent plants thi gives thme more diversity where as "corn fed" are only getting grass. think aobut this most people wouldnt realise they ate a buffalo steak if no one told them. the people who can tel lthe diffrence eat laot of steak. pick a food u like and eat alot and ull be able to tell if someone changed something.

See I can (well I think I can)...Steak can taste really juicy and hits the spot LOL then sometmes when I eat steak it wont taste as good

that is prolby because u are eating ateak foprm diffrent parts of the body liek a sholder steak is usualy rough. or how the meat was kept or for how long or how it was cooked. not nesicceraly what the cow ate

I can tell the taste of meat that's had freezer burn. I call the taste "carrion" heh... still edible tho...

No...

Robbie you started out strong than fizzled...You have proved nothing but you don't know that cows aren not natural grain eaters they have been taught to eat grain.... you have proved that you know how tro take what you bleive and twist your logic tofit it......I've explained all this corn is not Basically the same as grass in nutrients....If you are gonna goggle now would be the time.......Again boys do you know what a Rumen is?????

frog you have a story for everything...frog how do you feel about fish being bred to eat corn?????What does a fish eat naturally???? Robbie you clearly donot know of what you speak....i'm moving on to greener pastures lol thanks for the chat boys.....


Geri, I have been a vegan for 4 years, i always thought meat tasted terrible i quit eating beef in the 80's no pork since 79, chicken is too slimy and just doesn't taste good , I actually sort of liked turkey burgers but only occassioinally...fish yuck to dangerous to eat has been for a long time. in the US.... I have probably never had grass fed only corn and its horrible....How can something taste good that isn't rasied on the right feed and the suffering and sicknessthese animls endure not like you grew up with animals that werer loved and cared for............those are the days we are trying to get back....

They don't


They are HERBIVORES...THEY EAT GRAINS. What do you not get?

A herbivore doesn't eat grain (Zea mays indenta) naturally... goggle ...frog are you saying fish don't eat, or they don't eat corn?????they are being bred to eat corn what do you think of that......i get you didn't know that.... frog is ice berg lettuce and spinach the same to you???????Is soy milk and cows milk the same too you??? Why can't you eat grass frog???I bet you think breast milk and formula basically the same thing frog so you know what a rumen is ......Do you understande the difernce between normal and natural????

yes i know what a rumen is. what i dont tihnk is why u keep bringing it up. the fact that plants are so hard on mammalian digestion that all herbivores hav e developed certain methods of eating them only disproves utr point that people dont need meat if we werem ent to only eat plants we would have our own methond to andle ther food too. weiter it is constant grazing chewing cud 4 stomachs bacteria in the stomach to break it down or what have u but we do not have any of those.



Frogfish apparently sherri is to stuck in her ways ot understand anything new. the expression cant teach an old dog new tricks coems to mind.

Hahaha! Even a Elementary science class will teach that! You are misinformed


The latter.

Frog a cow by NATURE is not a corn eater, it has been a wonder of science to get these herbivores to eat corn......CORN was originally a generic word to describe all grain (late 1600 's) You are just arguing to argue as always with no real knowledge to support your 'claims' you should know if your uncle is a rancher that cows aren't NATURALLY grain eaters.......You are simply apeing robbie....and then in typical fashion you are using insults to debate...do you have something or not.......
Frog why doesn't a fish eat corn????????

Fish didn't used to eat corn because corn didn't usually grow under water where the fish were.



Why are you advocating cessation of scientific study??/???

Why do you want to take us back to the dark ages????questionmark??

Celum are you kidding we are in the dark ages, we are feeding animals feed that isn't there diet, we are knowingly pumping animals full of hormones and antibiotics which would be unnessecary if the animal was raised naturally on food it is suppossed to eat...We have just about run out of oil due to our mass consumption of fossil fuel...We have abused the planet so much our weather patterns are being affected...many are drinking milk that is full of chemicals, eating pesticided fruits ad vege, becasue they can't see the value of payiing and supporting a industry that will benefit them and all others..our health care industry is a disease managment institution.....Americans are the sickest people there are.....Obesity is normal, as is often the situation most don't see beyond the circle they have enclosed themselves in, what you put into your mouth will be you in 15 years I'd love to you talk then...where do you think the pesticides and chemicals go do you think they magically disappear????? So you tell me the wonders of science celum ha hah ahahah lol...............

we still have at least another 40 years of oil pumping and were finding more and more and new drills are allwoing us to get more from ones we coudlnt get. fossil fule isnt perfect but if it wasnt for it u wouldnt be living the life you are right now. its not that these animals are eating food they shouldnt which is why they need antibioitics its that famrers dont want to play survival of the fittest. a herd will go threw sickness that they are not immune to its a natural occurance we see it in school all the time one kid gets sick they all get sick or something similar li9ke chicken pox. allowing this natural procces to happen would only lead to loss of cattle life.


talk about chemicals and pesesides ur plants get more thne cattle do. evne organic ones get some.

sorry, I deleted the rest of this. I double posted by accident.

So, I ask pardon if a lot of what I have to say has been covered, but hopefully I'll make some decent wisecrack.





First things first, I don't know about you, but up here in Canada, we feed our cows hay, not grass. If they can find a patch to forage on, all the better, but cows are like vacuums. 1 acre for 5 cows wouldn't be enough, as they eat approx 16 hours (or something close to it) of their day. So, we give them hay, or silage, or something to give them enough food and to keep them healthy. (Healthy enough, anyway..)
Next thing, you can't feed a cow ONLY corn. We use to add it in to their diet, but that's because it adds bulk to the animal, and it's cheap. It's not going to hurt them. But if they fed the cows corn unaccompanied by anything else, they would be so vitamin and mineral deficient that they would hardly be good to eat.. Unless you were talking about dairy cattle, in which case you are way off, since lactating cattle need a very healthy and proper diet to keep them giving milk.
There are a number of things you can feed cows, and the choice is entirely up to the farmer. It ranges from barley grain, to grass and grass alfalfa hay, legume hay, brome hay, oat hay, to cerial silage or corn silage, and the list goes on. It all depends on where you live and what added minerals you need to supply the animal so it gets the sufficient quantities to promote health and to optimize production and reproduction. A farmer wouldn't just give a cow corn because it's cheap and good for the economy. They want to feed these animals properly so that they can make the best herd possible.
Now, I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with livestock, but when an animal is salt or mineral deficient, you'll find it eating sand/dirt to get its requirements. I even use to watch the sheep at my old barn lick cars (in winter) to get the salt off them. The feed you give depends on where you live, and what you need. Maybe corn silage is the norm where you live sheri, but I doubt that the beef cattle are severely unhealthy, as the farmers would suffer too.


Robbie - I started correcting your spelling mistakes in that, but then decided it was too much work.. I can't understand some.. I'm OCD about spelling...
Umm.. Basically you are right. Cows aren't picky eaters, (when I was a little girl I use to go across the street to this field which had a bunch of beef cows (only I didn't know they were beef cows then) and I had this one named Clover that I really liked who always came up to me and ate clovers out of my hand. Go figure. I think I started developing a hate for meat once I learned someone ate her...*cough off track cough*) but it depends on what you give them. There are certain plants that they won't eat, mostly poisonous ones, thankfully. But again, cows rarely have enough to graze on in the field, and that's why we feed them extra hay, silage, and grains.
Robbie - One thing I don't agree with is how you think that cows are the same as buffalo. First of all, I wouldn't have ANY problem with people eating meat if cows were wild like the buffalo were. Heck, I'd go kill myself a cow for supper and be eating steaks. But unfortunately, cows support a whole array of problems that we never saw when the buffalo roamed freely. I would also like to say that cattle are domesticated, while the bison were not. Cows have that effect on the world because we make them have this effect. We could solve world hunger with the food and water we use for them, but we don't. That's one major problem I have with the cattle industry... World hunger can be solved. If we wanted to and were all vegetarian that is...
Instead we use it on cows that we eat to satisfy our unnecessary cravings.
And as for "stuff" sticking out of the animals feces, do you know why? Man, and you took zoology?? Not all the grass is entirely digestable, for the purpose that the animals take in the nutrients it needs from the plants, and excretes the rest. Once the nutrients are gone, there is no point in digesting the rest. This is why herbivorous animals spend most of their day eating, however they are very efficient. There's not much nutritional value in grass. So they eat a lot, and it goes through them very fast. Although mostly, it is digested, unless you feed your animals really low quality hay.
Anyways..
Keep your eyes on the ball, everyone, and know what to tackle.. If you don't know where your meat is from, simply don't eat it. The main problem you would run into is a cattle rancher who is cheap enough to feed low quality grains, and pump his cattle with antibiotics to prevent from getting sick, and growth horomones so he could feed less. And the unfortunate sick ones would get fed to the rest of the herd. Yea, it's illegal. That doesn't stop anyone... And then you are going to be eating those too. I have a major problem with this, but I also have a problem with feeding them high quality grains so we can eat tastier meat.
People say that they eat meat because we evolved to be smarter and eat this way. If that's your argument, then you are ignorant, but that's besides the point. If you eat meat, you support the starvation of those in third world countries. The food used to feed that steak you ate last night could have been used to save someones life.
How's that for evolution. We can survive without meat, we can be healthier on a plant based diet, and still we choose meat. Not only does it support animal suffering, but it also supports human suffering. We've evolved to be stupid, and blind to the truth, if anything.

My most favorite quote:
"If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you can do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty."
~Paul McCartney

p.s: Robbie: "talk about chemicals and pesesides ur plants get more thne cattle do. evne organic ones get some."
Meat is WAAAAYYYYYY worse for you than plants!!! MAN! Don't get me started! Yea, the plants do get some, but we can wash them. And depending where you buy your organic fruits and veggies, they don't necessarily have any. Go to a natural food store or a farmers market and you should be ok. For the love of all things holy, stop looking for damn excuses to eat meat!! If you want to eat it, then that is PERFECTLY fine, but don't be ignorant to the fact that todays meat provided by supermarkets and grocery stores (and a lot of other places) is bad for you in every way, shape, and form. Just admit it.
AND! As for veggies being so bad... I'd like to see you scrub your meat down so it's free of antibiotics and horomones, and poo. Yes, there is feces in your meat. At least a little. I guarantee.. Maybe use a little soap, I hear all those things are hard to get out since the meat is entirely composed of B.S.

Robbie that is in error, i am not gonna retype tons of info each time reread posts...the antibiotics HAVE to be used due to the cows being fed a diet that is unnatural to them....
again not true one kid gets sick they all do, a unhealthy host to begin with will most likely get sick not a healthy one....My vegan kid (8) proves taht to be untrue...a kid eats bad they get sick its not rocket science, most illness is food borne and water borne.......organic plants do not NEED pesticides a plant if left alone will protect itself, pesticides actaully interfer with this process making plants weak and defensless and you eat these also bugs are natures censures they tell you something is off.......

Scratch that is basically what i have been saying YOU CAn't feed a cow just corn and here in america we do, ( its rectified by mass amounts of antibiotics) for the most part there may be a rancher here and there but the majority is feedlot.......Grass is basically photovoltiac panels the moment a cow shears a clump of grass, it sets into motion a sequence of events that will confer a measurable benefit to this square foot of pasture..this shorn grass plant, restores the rough balance between the roots and leaves and will proceed to shed as much root mass as its just lost in leaf mass..When the discarded roots die , the soils population of bacteria, fungi, earth worms will get to work breaking them down into a rich brown humus. what had been the grass plants roots will run channels through which worms, air, and rainwater will move through the earth, stimualting the process by which new topsoil is formed.......now back on top the cows shearing of the grass will stimulate new growth, as the crown redirects reserves of carbhydrates energy from the roots to form new shoots.you see the cows are good for the enviorment they haev a place a very important place...wath they take they give back .......

Scratch its misleading to speak of any grass plant in isolation since many different plant species form many different functions and occupy one square foot of pasture..this biodiversity has a great many benefits to all parties at the most basic level it allows the farms land to capture the maximum amount of solar energy, if the areas that are now being used to grow corn were used for pastures it would go along way in restoring the planet....the biggest problem is many don't get the whole picture , they only see bits and pieces nature is a interdeepndent relationship all parts are interrelated and connected for the good of the whole.....

cows eat white clover, bluish fescue, timothy clumps , orchard grass, red clover, millet, plaintain, bluegrass, sweet grass each of these provides the cow with nutrients and minerals it needs, if it is feeling alittle off it will inherently know which grass to eat to help....