[mikkupikku]

"Factory-farmed beef" doesn't even exist. All cows get raised in fields for their first 12-18 months. The ""factory-farming"" is just a feed lot they get taken to for 3-6 months to eat grain before slaughter.

If you want to talk about pigs or chickens, that's an entirely different story. Those do get raised full life cycle in factory-like industrial facilities. But those aren't cows.

[triceratops]

You've never heard of free-range chickens?

I agree pigs are raised in abominable conditions.

[mikkupikku]

Not all pigs and chickens are "factory farmed" but most are. And unlike cows, the term is relatively meaningful and descriptive when applied to the way those are raised. Bro heard about how pigs and chickens get raised in tiny cages never seeing the light of day then assumed that's how it works for cows too, which he now realizes isn't the case because I shamed him into looking it up.

[wyre]

You're going to have to cite strong sources or else this is either heavy cope or straight-up denial.

It is inconceivable that American's consume as much beef as they do, yet production has been able to scale without resorting to factory-farming. Every other commodity food is factory farmed. It's asinine to think beef is immune to that.

[mikkupikku]

Bro, get out of the city or just look at a map, America is absolutely enormous. There is no shortage of land to let cows graze on. Feedlots for cattle aren't even necessary at all, they're only used to increase profit.

What's really asinine is that you have such strong opinions about a subject you know nothing about and demand that other people do research for you.

[wyre]

Cope harder, bro. Show me sources. Cattle is a massive industry and it should not be hard to find sources proving me wrong. Calves live on pasture for the first few months, but are then transferred to backgrounding farms, that are technically still pastures, but are fed a highly supplemented diet and have less room to roam. STFU about me not knowing what I'm talking about.

Feedlots are absolutely necessary at the levels that American's consume beef. It might look like there isn't a shortage of pasture for cows, but the truth is there is not enough land to transition to 100% grass-fed with American's level of consumption. [1]

[1] https://grazingfacts.com/land-use

[mikkupikku]

> Calves live on pasture for the first few months, but are then transferred to backgrounding farms, that are technically still pastures, but are fed a highly supplemented diet and have less room to roam

Glad to see you finally looked it up and saw that I was right. Your attempt to save face is amusing though. From "factory farmed" to "the pastures are a bit small" is funny.

And no, feed lots aren't necessary. They make beef cheaper by making cows bigger, therefore making the industry more profitable, but if you did away with them Americans would still be eating enough beef to make urban vegan weenies seethe.