Vegans and vegetarians can move along and enjoy their day. You're cool already, and off the hook.

Cows are ruminants. That's a group of animals that are specially adapted to eat nutritionally-useless grasses. That's their whole deal. If you're living in a pastoral or premodern farming society then that's great because you can't eat grass and you can eat cows, so it's free food. But instead you live in a society (insert meme) where we grow food specifically for cows then ship it to cows. Again, the animal that's specialized in eating things that have no nutritional value, so we're going out of our way to grow plants with no nutritional value, and then ship enough of it around to feed an animal anyway.

What does that mean? It means by whatever metric you choose, cow meat is worse than half as efficient as other common sources of animal protein.

Feed conversion ratios. Enough feed to make a pound of beef is enough to make 2.5 pounds of pork or 5 pounds of chicken.

CO2 per calorie. 1000 calories of beef costs 13.8 kg of CO2. 1000 calories of pork costs 4.45kg CO2. 1000 calories of chicken costs 3.37kg CO2. Also note lamb topping the charts, which will be a running theme. (Also an extra reason not to use broccoli as your primary calorie source, if eating 13 pounds of broccoli a day wasn't a good enough reason on its own.)

Land use per year per calorie. How much land did that 1000 calories take? You'll need 119 square meters for beef, 7.26 square meters for pork, or 6.61 square meters for chicken. Note lamb topping the chart again. (Also apparently prawns can be farmed super dense, that's something interesting that I didn't know.)

Why do sheep show up so high on some of these charts? Because they're also ruminants. Don't eat sheep either.

    • eduardog3000 [he/him]
      8·
      4 years ago

      Have you ever considered that we just don't care about the "murder" of livestock? No amount of "meat is murder" moralizing is going to change that fact.

      • Good_Username [they/them,e/em/eir]
        4·
        4 years ago

        Have you considered that that makes you an asshole?

        Actually, that's a little harsh. You're just living in this society that constantly bombards you with the message that livestock animals don't have feelings and deserve the literal torture that is their lives. With any luck someday you'll break the societal programming and see the truth.

        If you feel like engaging more, we can totally talk. I'll help you think through your opinions so you at least know where you stand. My first question would be: would you eat a dog?

        • eduardog3000 [he/him]
          8·
          4 years ago

          No, dogs evolved alongside us to be companions. Cows evolved/were domesticated to be our food and provide milk. There is a clear difference.

          • Good_Username [they/them,e/em/eir]
            2·
            4 years ago

            Ok, what are some differences between a companion animal and a food animal? How can we tell one from the other?

            • eduardog3000 [he/him]
              5·
              4 years ago

              You really can't see how dogs provide companionship in ways cows never could? You can't see how we literally co-evolved with dogs to work together. How dogs are literally used to save and improve people's lives, again in ways cows never could.

              • Good_Username [they/them,e/em/eir]
                2·
                4 years ago

                No, I don't see an obvious difference, which is why I'm asking you. Please tell me some concrete differences between companion animals and food animals.

                Edit: Alright, I have to start doing work now, so my replies are going to be a little more spaced out. I'm still here though and am not ignoring you.

                • eduardog3000 [he/him]
                  5·
                  4 years ago

                  Have you heard of a seeing-eye cow? Or a search and rescue cow? Or a seizure alert cow? An emotional support cow?

                  You must have never had a dog to not understand how they provide companionship. Humans and dogs form emotional bonds that improve the lives of both. Dogs provide physical and mental comfort, cows don't. Before that they were hunting companions and watchful protectors, again roles that cows could never fill.