Why are those here who eat meat so defensive?

[DeschutesRiver]

173. I support thousands of bambis, plus antelope, elk, coyote, bear, wild turkey, feral pigs, quail,

hawks, turkey vultures, bobcats, badgers, weasels, packrats, chipmunks, and much, much more wildlife that lives on this land along with my cattle and horses. There have always been far more of the wild things here on my land than there are cows or horses - it is not an exclusive thing, ie doesn't mean that to raise cattle that graze you cannot have bambis or the other critters. As for the feed, my cattle aren't fed grain, so no loss of land to bambi for that. They are fed alfalfa hay for a few winter months, but bambis eat it while it is still growing in the fields (part of the expected loss per acre), and they still graze the cut fields afterwards. They also spend more time than I wish eating from my hay stack that I keep for my cattle. So no loss of bambis for the hay that is grown for my beef.

So at my place I can say that no bambis were hurt (or displaced) in the production of this home raised beef. This kind of beef is available for anyone to eat, but I think most people still prefer fat encrusted grain fed beef because it is what they've been taught to prefer. When I was growing up, our meat still smelled and tasted like meat, not like the stuff I used to buy at the store before I started raising my own.

I think you may be talking about feedlot beef that is finished on grain? Feedlot beef are only on grain briefly. And grain isn't the main part of their diet there anyway despite the myth sold to the public (there are more odd things that compose their feed than you'd ever imagine); they are born elsewhere and raised grazing on public lands and rangeland with grasses/legumes-grasses in the winter if necessary until they are ready to be "fattened on grains and other things" at a feedlot. They are not fed grains their entire lives, so there is no grain growing that would displace a bambi for those years at all.

Soybeans won't grow on my land, so that nothing is being taken out of soybean production in order for me to raise my beef. So this acreage supports the wild ones and my few cattle. I eat those cattle, as do a few other people who buy quarters locally when I have extras to offer for sale. These cows never leave this land to enter a feedlot, so they don't take up space on feedlot lan d that could be used by bambis to graze before the feedlot was built.

There is a way to have your meat and wildlife too, but I don't see many people jumping on board. It is harder to do and costs more than just showing up at the local grocery store to pick up some styro packs of "product" cheap for dinner. Anyway, there is some thoughts for food, as Colbert would say.