Let's Speak Up for the Beef Cow!
Let's Speak Up for the Beef Cow!!!
Do you ever get tired of the beef industry being blamed for many of the perceived ills of the world? Meat consumption is blamed for everything from global warming to the destruction of the rainforests. People who promote these ideas either ignore or are ignorant of the facts surrounding these issues. We in the beef industry have an opportunity and an obligation to tell the public the truth regarding these matters. Consider these myths and facts.
Myth Number 1
Number of acres of U S forest which have been cleared to create cropland for a meat-centered diet: 260 million.
This statement is from a 1984 Vegetarian Times article written by two vegetarian activists. The source of the figure is a mystery. According to USDA’s Agricultural Statistics 2005 (which cites 2003 forestry figures), there currently are 748 million acres of forest in the continental United states. The U.S. Forest Service archives show that in 1920, there were 732 million acres of U.S. forest land. So according to 2003 figures, we actually have 16 million more acres of forest land than we did in 1920.
Myth Number 2
In a 1990 Report entitled “Current Issues in Food Production: A Perspective on Beef as a Component in Diets for Americans,” Professor Murray H. Milford of Texas A&M’s Department of Soil and Crop Science noted that, while soil erosion is a significant problem in the United States, it is not due to animals or the feed they consume. The most extensive soil erosion occurs with crops grown for direct use by man, such as cotton. Cotton is the world’s major crop associated with the largest erosion losses – 19.9 tons/acre/year, more than two and a half times greater than corn. In addition, one of the best ways to prevent soil erosion is to grow grass on the land and pasturelands grazed by cattle are managed grasslands that serve as good ground cover and hold the soil in place.
Myth Number 3
Number of people who could be fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their meat intake by 10%: 60 million.
This is an old quote from Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute. It should be noted that Brown has been predicting food security crises for more than 20 years and has yet to be correct in any prediction. Further, in the 1990 Current Issues in Food Production: A Perspective on Beef as a Component in Diets for Americans, Dr. Harry Kunkel, professor of human nutrition at Texas A&M University, noted that this claim is based on a simplistic arithmetic exercise. If one accepts the figure quoted by activists of 12 million tons of grain ‘saved’, this would work out to about a pound of (unprocessed) grain per day for about 60 million people. But this ignores logic and reality. First, the grain in question is feed grain, not the higher quality food grain consumed by humans. Second, if there were no market for this grain as livestock feed, it simply would not be grown. Farmers are not going to grow grain and give it away. Unless, someone was willing to buy this lower quality grain and ship it to third world countries, it would not even be produced.
Myth Number 4
The grain used to create an 8-oz. steak could fill the bowls of 40 people.
At 2.6 lbs. of grain per pound of beef, that 8 ounces of steak translates into 1.3 lbs. of grain. Divided by 40 bowls, this would yield about .45 ounces of unprocessed, low-quality feed grain per bowl. So these would be very small, very unappetizing bowls of unprocessed grain.
(Source: www.beeffrompasturetoplate.org)