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Actually, Raising [grass fed] Beef Is Good for the Planet
Wall St. Journal ^ | December 19, 2014 | Nicolette Hahn Niman

Posted on 12/22/2014 10:26:23 AM PST by grundle

Despite environmentalists’ worries, cattle don’t guzzle water or cause hunger—and can help fight climate change

People who advocate eating less beef often argue that producing it hurts the environment. Cattle, we are told, have an outsize ecological footprint: They guzzle water, trample plants and soils, and consume precious grains that should be nourishing hungry humans. Lately, critics have blamed bovine burps, flatulence and even breath for climate change.

As a longtime vegetarian and environmental lawyer, I once bought into these claims. But now, after more than a decade of living and working in the business—my husband, Bill, founded Niman Ranch but left the company in 2007, and we now have a grass-fed beef company—I’ve come to the opposite view. It isn’t just that the alarm over the environmental effects of beef are overstated. It’s that raising beef cattle, especially on grass, is an environmental gain for the planet.

At the same time, cattle are key to the world’s most promising strategy to counter global warming: restoring carbon to the soil. One-tenth of all human-caused carbon emissions since 1850 have come from soil, according to ecologist Richard Houghton of the Woods Hole Research Center. This is due to tillage, which releases carbon and strips the earth of protective vegetation, and to farming practices that fail to return nutrients and organic matter to the earth. Plant-covered land that is never plowed is ideal for recapturing carbon through photosynthesis and for holding it in stable forms.

Most of the world’s beef cattle are raised on grass. Their pruning mouths stimulate vegetative growth as their trampling hoofs and digestive tracts foster seed germination and nutrient recycling. These beneficial disturbances, like those once caused by wild grazing herds, prevent the encroachment of woody shrubs and are necessary for the functioning of grassland ecosystems.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: climatechange; cows; environment; environmentalism; globalwarming; globalwarminghoax; itswhatsfordinner
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1 posted on 12/22/2014 10:26:23 AM PST by grundle
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To: grundle

We would not have grasslands and prairies today were not for bison. Want to get rid of greenbriar and scrub? Put a bale in the middle of it. The cows will do all the work.


2 posted on 12/22/2014 10:33:45 AM PST by waterhill (I Shall Remain, in spite of __________.)
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To: grundle
Liberals always seem to forget the vast herds of Bison that once roamed this land. If cattle are the problem the Bison should have fried us to a crisp.
3 posted on 12/22/2014 10:35:04 AM PST by Idaho_Cowboy (Ride for the Brand. Joshua 24:15)
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To: grundle
" Lately, critics have blamed bovine burps, flatulence and even breath for climate change."

Once upon a time there were millions of Bison.
Many millions more than there are cattle today.
But I guess Bison don't fart.

4 posted on 12/22/2014 10:40:10 AM PST by Falcon4.0
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To: grundle

that and it tastes wonderful


5 posted on 12/22/2014 10:46:49 AM PST by Nifster
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To: Nifster

The difference between grass fed and corn fed is astounding. Corn fed doesn’t even taste good to me anymore.


6 posted on 12/22/2014 10:52:04 AM PST by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: goodwithagun
“The difference between grass fed and corn fed is astounding.”

If it isn't corn fed and aged with lots of fat marbling I won't eat it.

Grass fed is inedible crap!!!

7 posted on 12/22/2014 11:00:12 AM PST by dalereed
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To: grundle
Lately, critics have blamed bovine burps, flatulence and even breath for climate change.

This is nothing new. Congress appropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the study of this in the late 80's and early 90's.

Conversely, there was a study in Canada a number of years ago that measured the gas expulsion of several humans on a daily basis. They found that the average human expels approx. 3 liters of gas per day.

Do some math! 7 billion humans times 3 and the amount of gas expelled by humans far exceeds what a few cows might do.

8 posted on 12/22/2014 11:04:19 AM PST by Parmy
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To: dalereed

Perhaps you could learn to cook the grass fed beef properly, then you would discover the incredible flavor of it?


9 posted on 12/22/2014 11:04:55 AM PST by MHGinTN
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To: dalereed

We’ll just have to agree to disagree, FRiend.


10 posted on 12/22/2014 11:09:06 AM PST by goodwithagun (My gun has killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.)
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To: grundle
The problem is that cows typically do not graze in herds. Some farmers are employing mob grazing to simulate the benefit of herds. As to cow flatulence the carbon that is in the grass is going to be converted into CO2, either by the grazers or by bacteria. It really doesn't matter which one.
11 posted on 12/22/2014 11:11:05 AM PST by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: grundle

Grass-fed! LOL! Well, okay. It will be your money and my cost savings!

[Ain’t city slickers great?]


12 posted on 12/22/2014 11:26:37 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: dalereed

“Grass fed is inedible crap!!!”

True that. Years ago one of the grocery stores tried selling that at a big discount, that didn’t last long.

Even at a discount it is unfit for anything except hamburger.


13 posted on 12/22/2014 11:28:48 AM PST by Beagle8U (If illegal aliens are undocumented immigrants, then shoplifters are undocumented customers.)
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To: grundle

So far the basic premise — Liberals are wrong about absolutely everything — remains rock solid.


14 posted on 12/22/2014 11:29:15 AM PST by samtheman
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To: grundle

***People who advocate eating less beef often argue that producing it hurts the environment.***

80 milliom bison=good!
80 million cattle=bad!

We must all eat grass!


15 posted on 12/22/2014 11:32:45 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Straight Vermonter
"The problem is that cows typically do not graze in herds."

Cattle do everything in herds. The bulls lead, warn the herds against predators and find water. It's obvious to real farmers in the Midwest and more obvious in large grazing areas of the West.


16 posted on 12/22/2014 11:36:10 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: goodwithagun

***The difference between grass fed and corn fed is astounding.***

Yes it is, and the purpose of grain fed cattle is to get rid of the “off” flavors picked up by the cattle. You really should try some beef that has been eating on pasture with some wild onions growing in it! You will never badmouth grain fed beef again.


17 posted on 12/22/2014 11:36:34 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Idaho_Cowboy
"Liberals always seem to forget the vast herds of Bison that once roamed this land."

The folks not long descended from Europe worship "bison" and give them an inexplicable pass. I repeatedly call the animals buffalo just to watch those foreigners get homesick.


18 posted on 12/22/2014 11:44:07 AM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: goodwithagun

I buy grass fed when I can. Aldi’s has grassfed hamburger in a one pound package. Its from Uruguay and Argentina and Australia. Frozen of course


19 posted on 12/22/2014 11:47:13 AM PST by dennisw (The first principle is to find out who you are then you can achieve anything -- Buddhist monk)
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To: dennisw

In fact, Argentinian beef is in high demand in much of the world specifically because the cattle in Argentina graze on grass only.


20 posted on 12/22/2014 11:52:22 AM PST by RayChuang88 (Ferguson: put your hands down and go to work!)
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