The dairy cow is the most efficient means of turning grass on a rocky hillside into human-usable protein [0].

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20061802

There seems to be a hidden fallacy here. If cows were free range eating _only_ from non productive grass, then sure, they helped turn them into useful proteins in an efficient way.

However, we(humans) as we always do, took things too far, and have been turning lots of wild land to make grass as food for these cows that eventually turn them into proteins. That only leads to more and more grass production and burping cows :-(

Can you link to the book, out of interest?

As best I can figure that one's in a box of books. If I ever get a chance to unpack them all, it's one of the books I'm looking for. I'll favorite your comment here, and try to get back to you. :)

This is not the reference, but something I just found on google books about the efficiency of dairy cows: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Farming_the_Business_Ma...

(responding to request for the reference for the dairy cow as an efficient converter of grass on rocky hillsides).

No worries, thank you :)

The follow up argument is how much fresh water it takes to both hydrate the cow and to grow the feed.

According to this article it takes 1847 gallons of water to make 1 lb of beef and 122 to make one gallon of milk, compared to 39 for 1 lb of vegetables:

https://www.denverwater.org/tap/whats-the-beef-with-water

Admittedly, that water doesn't disappear and stays in the water cycle, but every lb of beef that is reduced from the diet saves enough water to supply a household of 4 for almost a week (assuming 80 gallons per person/day)

With the droughts due to climate change interfering with the water cycle and changing the actual local climates of farming areas, without change happening it may become a requirement to drastically reduce the amount of beef that we consume in order to have enough water to survive.

Either that or we will need to start catching rain as it falls on the ocean and shipping it in to make up for the overuse.

I raise beef and dairy on my farm. My milk cow can produce several gallons per day. She drinks at most 20 gallons of water on a hot day. Water scarcity is a huge problem, but the numbers quoted above are completely bogus. In truth, beef can improve the ability of land to capture water by creating fertility in poor soil, as the resulting vegetation leads to increased water retention.