Diet for a Small Planet vs. helping the plant by eating meat

[Guest guest]

--- In , Robin Ann <grainwreck@g...>

wrote:

> Oh shoot. I don't want to be a poopy pants but that part of the WAP

> philosophy doesn't yet make sense to me; Maybe I need more

education.

The

> whole angle of Diet For a Small Planet was that you could produce

more food

> energy (calories) on, say, an acre of planted crops than you could

by

> growing grass, grazing it and eating the livestock.

<big snip>

> But heck,

> if it turns out that by eating so much meat I'm also helping the

planet,

> well fill me in!

> ~Robin

Hi Robin,

Here's my two cents' worth!

From what I've seen firsthand, conventionally-farmed (using

chemicals) cropland soil is much LESS healthy than semi-holistically-

ranched soil. Less healthy soil is going to be packed, hard, have no

earthworms or dung beetles or birds making their homes there, for

instance. It will be prone to be dry and quickly lose as runoff any

water that falls on it. It will have little, if any, organic

matter. If they do graze steers on, say, winter wheat pasture, their

manure will sit for a long time and get dry and hard, instead of

being decimated by dung beetles and incorporated into the soil. I

smile every time I see a " cow patty " in the process of being torn

apart by dung beetles.

There is a holistic method of ranching that some call " management

intensive grazing " (MIG), which simulates (through breaking up

pasture into numerous paddocks) what used to happen on open range

when there were huge herds of grazing animals that passed through

periodically. They would eat down the grass and weeds to a fairly

low level, then move on. While they were there, they would leave

manure and urine as fertilizer. Their hooves would press seeds

against the soil and leave little depressions in the soil, which

served to catch rainwater, rather than let it run off and create

gullies. The grass recovered because they were absent for longer

periods of time than they stayed--but not having them come through at

all prevents the cutting of the grass, which makes it generate new

growth again and keeps the mix of plantlife healthier. Any

groundcover will prevent the soil from dying, and letting animals

graze on it for a proper period of time (say, 2-3 days, depending on

the forage supply), then letting it rest, is one of the best ways to

restore depleted land.

Here is a good site that shows what can be done if someone wants to

use grazing animals to restore the land:

http://www.holisticmanagement.org/

DH tells me that the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma in the 1930s was due in

large part to the fact that the government urged all farmers to

plant " fencerow to fencerow " . They followed governmental orders and

we can see what happened.

OTOH, now Oklahoma boasts of having more " coastland " than both the

East Coast and West Coast combined, due to the reservoirs that have

been built. The eastern part of the state is called " Green Country "

in our promotional material. Droughts are extremely rare there.

The two major towns in Oklahoma are Oklahoma City and Tulsa. I am

located where I can get TV broadcasts from both. In recent memory,

water shortages requiring rationing are fairly rare. I believe 1996

was pretty dry, and some towns may have published lists telling which

areas could water their lawns on which days, but water rationing _per

se_ usually only happens in small towns when their water mains get

accidentally severed.

There is a lot of argument about whether or not organic farming could

provide everyone a vegetarian diet sufficient for their health. In

actuality, I suspect if everyone were eating vegetarian or vegan, the

food would have to be produced factory-farm style, or everyone would

have to move back to the land and farm for themselves...or you would

have to kill off a bunch of people.

I think this group has seen what happens when large numbers of people

try to live on factory-farmed fruits and veggies, while avoiding

natural fat and meat.

Perhaps it would be a dream come true for doctors and drug companies,

but it would be a nightmare for regular people, wouldn't it?

I am delighted to have learned about WAPF at this point in my life.

Instead of having to go to the doctor more frequently and take

prescription (or even over-the-counter) medications every day, my

family and I do none of that.

Eating *more* meat and milk and eggs and animal fat, and judicious

use of cod liver oil, have made the difference.

Why, DD (age 9) doesn't even have a cavity yet! And I'm sure all her

teeth would have been perfectly positioned if she had not drunk 2%

milk from age 2 until age 5-1/2, when we switched back to whole milk,

thanks to information from WAPF. (Her 2nd incisors came in at an

angle, although the middle teeth are perfect. We are hoping that

when she loses her canine teeth, it might allow the other teeth to

straighten.)

It's icing on the cake to know that buying and eating foods from

animal sources (especially beef) actually helps keep the land healthy.

Sure, I know about the problems with CAFOs (feedlots), and I can't

ensure that every bite of meat comes from a grassfed animal, but we

do what we can do. We manage our grass better and help our cattle to

eat better and live happier.