University bans all beef from campus...........

[otolith]

rxe said:

I think most of the commercial beef issues originate from the US, where they keep cows on “feedlots” which are just big fields stocked to a crazy density. The cows eat no grass, they eat pellets.

In general a lot of Peta propaganda relating to US farming practices gets uncritically parroted in the UK.

[Fittster]

turbobloke said:

Obviously so, but it still gets missed in all the excitement.

This lot (below) is a mere taster from the full menu of bunk that the trusted ‘science is settled’ alarmists have given us based on agw junk.

Do you still stand by your sun spot posts?

[Yertis]

biggbn said:

bnseven said:

I have gone a little "good life" in respect of beef, we keep two dexters, they run out all year and we get a new steer once a year and the older of the three then goes to slaughter. I get a freezer full of grass fed extensively reared quality beef for about £600 all in. Its not the cost saving you notice its the taste!

I know not everyone can do it but saves me a lot of mowing and strimming and I like seeing them about. Makes a huge difference if you have the space and facilities

What a brilliant way if doing things

Isn't it. How many acres do you need to do that?

[bnseven]

we have 24acres of pasture but a pal of mine has 6 red polls on 6 acres. I think two dexters would manage on a couple of acres though. We give them hay when the ground is frozen or snowy but they are hardy and live out all year. We also have a pal with a few sheep and another with the odd pig so swap a bit of beef for a bit of pork and a bit of lamb. I never go to the butchers.

As discussed the worst bit is the hours trip to the slaughterhouse, in an ideal world would do it at home but they are all recorded and tagged so that not really possible

[Evanivitch]

Leithen said:

You are falling into the trap of using broad brush statements that don’t reflect the range of different production approaches across the UK beef industry.

Some may be intensive, but many are extensive. Breeds such as Luing that we helped pioneer and continue to breed are designed to out-winter.

Most don’t understand the difference between dairy beef and suckler herds. That’s as much the fault of the farming industry as anyone’s.

And the landscape has been man made for many centuries.

Broad brush statements that are true of what most people consume in the UK.

Luing is a great example of a hardy breed that should form part of a future low impact farming.

[biggbn]

rxe said:

We do similar, but outsourced it to the local farm. They keep a herd on the fields next door to us and occasionally a few get the chop. The buggiest “non-sustainable” bit is the 60 miles they have to be driven for slaughter. It would be better all round if I could stick a .308 in the back of their heads.

Other neighbour keeps pigs at the bottom of the garden. We eat a pig a year.

I think most of the commercial beef issues originate from the US, where they keep cows on “feedlots” which are just big fields stocked to a crazy density. The cows eat no grass, they eat pellets.

...and jabbed full of trenbolene to make them pack on more lean mass

[Mr Whippy]

My local butcher ‘sirloin’ is pasture grazing and grass off the immediate land (silage etc) in winter.

Not sure where it’s slaughtered. But it’s all within 15 miles (crow flight) of the farm, slaughterhouse and butcher.

So local jobs. Local level transport costs (should imo be even more local with more ‘friendly’ end of life/abattoir setups imo)
Sustainable. Yummy. Healthy. As nice on the animals as you can get.
£27.50/kg

[Writhing]

It makes me wonder who will attend this place and what they’ll be like after being there for 3 years.

[Digga]

Writhing said:

It makes me wonder who will attend this place and what they’ll be like after being there for 3 years.

And who it is that is driving this blatant and very worrying exercise in social engineering?

Common Purpose perhaps?

[grumbledoak]

Digga said:

And who it is that is driving this blatant and very worrying exercise in social engineering?

Common Purpose perhaps?

It is mostly corporate profits, but if you want a hidden group behind it, take a look at the Seventh Day Adventists. Seriously. They have been much more successful in influencing dietary advice and professional associations than you would guess.

Pure coincidence their huge cereals and processed food concerns...

[Digga]

Here is an excellent alternative view of how different types of agriculture impact on the environment: https://medium.com/@drewfrench/grass-fed-beef-the-...

It raises many issues conveniently ignored by those advocating a diet free of meat.

ETA it is worth rembmering that the reason the Great Plains of the USA are so fertile is because the soil benefits from millions of years of buffalo st. That is what the ecosystem there was before intensive agriculture.

Edited by Digga on Friday 16th August 13:30

[anonymous-user]

I loved it, when I had a client at the Royal Vet College in Hatfield, their canteen was most excellent.

See those lambs in the fields, that our students can practice on. They will be on the menu next week.

Delicious and negligible food miles involved.

[Evanivitch]

Digga said:

Here is an excellent alternative view of how different types of agriculture impact on the environment: https://medium.com/@drewfrench/grass-fed-beef-the-...

It raises many issues conveniently ignored by those advocating a diet free of meat.

Does it though? Seems like a terribly bias article myself.

For a start, he talks about the biodiversity of grass pasture. Grass pasture can be just as much of a monoculture as any other crop. Grass pasture can be intensively managed and worked just like any other area of farming and at the cost of wildlife and biodiversity.

Then he talks about land clearance. Huge swathes of forest have been felled all around the world for farming space of all sorts. It's not limited to one or the other. Pesticides are equivalent to predator/competitor eradication.

The facts are very simple, you need more land and energy to grow, manage and consume animal products from cradle to plate. There will be exceptions, but those exceptions won't allow us to feed an ever growing population with a animal-product rich diet.

[turbobloke]

Evanivitch said:

The facts are very simple, you need more land and energy to grow, manage and consume animal products from cradle to plate.

Facts or factoids?

Albert namely Einstein not Gore said:

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Environment Systems and Decisions 36, 1, 92–103 (2016)

Coauthor Prof P Fischbeck said:

Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon. Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken.

.

[Evanivitch]

turbobloke said:

Evanivitch said:

The facts are very simple, you need more land and energy to grow, manage and consume animal products from cradle to plate.

Facts or factoids?

Albert namely Einstein not Gore said:

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Environment Systems and Decisions 36, 1, 92–103 (2016)

Coauthor Prof P Fischbeck said:

Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon. Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken.

.

Classic turbojoke! Where's that link again?

[turbobloke]

There's usually a need for accuracy rather than over-simplified factoids.

Pushing climate fairytales uphill requires over-simplified factoids, as advised by Schneider.

[Digga]

Evanivitch said:

ever growing population

<Elephant in room claxon>

Fixed thinking, loaded question.

[Evanivitch]

turbobloke said:

There's usually a need for accuracy rather than over-simplified factoids.

Pushing climate fairytales uphill requires over-simplified factoids, as advised by Schneider.

Still waiting for that link...

[grumbledoak]

Evanivitch said:

The facts are very simple, you need more land and energy to grow, manage and consume animal products from cradle to plate. There will be exceptions, but those exceptions won't allow us to feed an ever growing population with a animal-product rich diet.

Nothing will allow us to feed an ever growing population.

[turbobloke]

grumbledoak said:

Evanivitch said:

The facts are very simple, you need more land and energy to grow, manage and consume animal products from cradle to plate. There will be exceptions, but those exceptions won't allow us to feed an ever growing population with a animal-product rich diet.

Nothing will allow us to feed an ever growing population.

And on that point, there are demographic statisticians pointing out that UN projections are too high and that the global population will not be ever-growing.