Re: The craving for beef.

[boddhisatva <kbevans@xxxxxxxxx>]

                Matt D.,



        From what I understand, cattle are not particularly efficient, and
of course they don't produce wool as well as meat.  Mutton would not be a
viable substitute for beef in Whoppers, unless you completely deodorized
it or something.  Fortunately, cattle are not particularly hard on the
browse, compared to goats.  They are very hard on the water supply and
they do a lot of erosion damage (they move a lot of earth with all that
weight).


        Buffalo have long been thought to be the next thing.  According to
ecologists, there were actually many more pounds of buffalo on the hoof
before settlers came (this without fertilizers and plows, obviously) than
there are pounds of cattle on the hoof now (with the benefit of modern
agriculture).  Buffalo is also very lean and can be reasonaby palatable,
if the type of browse is controlled.  It seems to produce a lot of waste in
butchering, and the meat is not particularly tender, but it might be very
good for ground meat.  They can also be a little hard on the cowboys when
they get annoyed.



        peace






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