Re:The Beginning of the End of the Beef Industry?
by jessaustin on Thursday August 01, 2019 @11:09AM
(#20584435)
Yes it would be nice to separate the two issues. We can all agree that Western ranchers should not be subsidized by the federal government to destroy fragile desert ecosystems. I own cattle that graze on my own land and other land I rent from private owners in the Midwest, so this subsidy always seemed a bit unfair.
I was always angry to see them out grazing on public lands in the Sonoran desert where they trample emerging small cactus and graze down the nurse plants small saguaro need to get started. They also trash sensitive riparian areas. There was no animal like that there, cattle should not be in that area in my opinion, most especially on public ground.
However environments that natively supported animals of that size, plain or grass type areas, no problem, lease it out. Cattle actually do environmental good in these areas helping to keep brush down and building grasslands.
Unfortunately this isn't most of the public ground in the Western US.