Well then, I guess if finishing cattle on grass is not cost effective, then all those guys are out of business and there is no grass fed beef, right?
Or is it possible that some consumers cover the cost by exercising their right in a free market to pay more for grass-fed beef because they want cattle raised that way. Maybe they found out that ruminants aren't designed for high grain diets, as it causes acidosis, rumen ulceration and liver abscesses. Except that drugs are added to the ration to reduce the incidence. Last I heard it was acceptable if 15% of cattle had abscesses. Maybe some consumers aren't interested in that, and I think they have that right.
And those consumers also might not want cattle that are stressed in the weaning-sorting-hauling-processing that occurs before going to feedlots. To the point that many get sick and require more drugs.
And it helps to make grain feeding more "cost effective" by making taxpayers subsidize grain. Why don't we do that for grass?
Also to make grain more cost effective, cheap energy is needed to make fertilizer, and to run the machinery needed to plant, harvest and transport it. Then need cheap energy to haul all the cattle to the feedlots, and to feed the grain to cattle, and then haul the cattle to slaughterhouses.
Fortunately for this system, our government has had a policy of ensuring cheap energy. Of course, "cheap" is expensive. We have/will spend $10 trillion or so in the middle east mucking around over oil. Few people can comprehend how much a trillion is, let alone ten of them.
The Iraq war alone will cost an estimated $6 trillion after lifetime care of the maimed and debilitated troops. Since the 1950's when we installed a dictator in Iran who tortured his people, then they revolted and we supported Saddam against them. But he went into Kuwait thinking he had our blessing, but we had to start the mess bombing and starving Iraq for ten years until 9/11. So we mucked around and bombed some more, creating more terrorists and making ourselves a target. And had to spend trillions on new intelligence gathering departments, homeland security, etc.
So the war on terror will never end, but thank goodness it all leads to free-flowing oil and cost effective cattle feed!
Meanwhile, subsidies to grain make for cheaper junk food, so we can all get fatter. We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic, and some are still worried about efficiently producing more food. So government promotes cheap junk food and obesity, then offers free health care to deal with the resulting illnesses like diabetes.
One branch of government creating problems while another fixes them. And round and round we go. Brilliant scam, actually.
Fortunately, though, we can just keep printing the money to pay for all this, which of course causes inflation and higher cost of living, fewer jobs and less money in our pockets to buy beef. Another reason more people are switching to chicken.
