The economics of meat consumption

I am happy to eat meat, although I accept that many people choose not to.  Some people consider a meat-free diet to be more healthy, while some people object to the methods used to slaughter animals which are intended for meat.

I will not address the point about the health benefits of either eating or not eating meat, as there is a lot of conflicting evidence out there.  I admit that some slaughter houses do not follow the correct procedure when killing animals, and I hope those slaughter houses are identified and suitably punished.

We are often told that meat consumption is uneconomical, and this is the point I wish to address here.  We are sometimes told that a certain quantity of grain is required to produce a pound of beef, and likewise a certain amount of water.

These figures are often suspect, and they also appear to overlook the other benefits of rearing livestock.  Cows and goats provide milk as well as meat.  Dairy farms require a number of female animals to provide the milk, as well as at least one male for the purpose of breeding.  However male as well as female animals will be born to the breeding stock, and these male animals can reasonably be reared for their meat.

Other benefits of livestock rearing are that sheep produce wool as well as meat, and that the rearing of sheep and cattle - both of which eat grass - helps to safeguard our green pasture land.  If Britain's farmers did not rear cattle and sheep, then I would expect a lot of our green fields to be ploughed up.  Then again, sheep in this country often graze on hillsides which would not be easily ploughed.

Several years ago, I read an account of how a charity had helped a woman in Lesotho.  She had just one acre of land with poor quality soil with which to feed herself and her children.  She also suffered from tuberculosis.

The charity supplied her with three goats.  If we follow vegetarian logic, then the charity had made her life harder.  After all, she now had to feed not only herself and her children from her land, but also the goats.

The gift of the three goats did however make her life much better. The goats provided milk to drink, and also manure with which to improve the soil.  The woman and her children enjoyed a diet with more protein, which resulted in her tuberculosis clearing up.  She even had some surplus milk which she could sell.

It appears that there is a lot to be said for livestock farming, and I for one do not intend to give up eating meat any time soon.