Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Have you ever raised cattle or studied the subject?  Surely you know the
enormous amounts of fresh water cattle need, compared to the amount needed
for producing the same amount of food directly for people. Are you unaware
of the effects of all those "byproducts" on animals' meat production, and
on people eating that meat? How much of those "byproducts" could be put to
better use composted for produce growing directly? I wouldn't haul that
stuff to the landfill - would you? Sorry but I can't agree that "Food fruit
and vegtable production requires such high input that only the most suited
ground is worthy of it".  And "cows joyously consume the bounty of the
'unusable' land and provide meat, milk, and other products for the people
of the world"?  Are you serious? You know nothing of the millions of acres
of corn and other grains grown exclusively for cattle feed in Midwest
feedlots? And really, beef is largely eaten only by the wealthiest nations.
 Let's get our facts first.

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all
our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to
foster its renewal is our only hope.
   - Wendell Berry 
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/15/2006 at 6:38 PM Ryan Albinger wrote:

>Cattle are valuable to this country.  Many people do not realize how much
>recycling they are reponsible for.  Cattle and dairy industries utilize
>many byproducts of human food production- culled chipping potatoes,
>carrots, chocolate, hominy, old corn starch, corn gluten feed, corn gluten
>meal, wheat midds, bakery waste, pizza crust, brewer's grains, fuzzy
>cottonseed, and many others.  Plus, they utilize the co-products of the
>ethanol industry- distiller's grains.  The rations are balanced to
>accomodate these products while not upsetting feed concumption or nutrient
>content.  Literally, MANY of these products would have ended up in a
>landfill somewhere.  How resourceful is that?  Americans and much of the
>world lead a consumptive lifestyle and waste more fresh water and food in
a
>day than 10 cattle consume.  And cattle offer the ability to make marginal
>ground viable.  Food fruit and vegtable production requires such high
input
>that only the most suited ground is worthy of it.  It is too expensive to
>try to make viable production on poor ground and poor climates. Meanwhile
>cows joyously consume the bounty of the 'unusable' land and provide meat,
>milk, and other products for the people of the world.
>Ryan
>