Why is pork so cheap?

[Dis]

cows eat grass, lots of it. They need huge fields of grass to survive.

In the U.S. we don't feed our cows cow parts like some other countries I will not name . we feed our cows what they are supposed to eat. crap growing on the ground.

[Solly]

cows eat grass, lots of it. They need huge fields of grass to survive.

I have a football field near me that the council can't afford to cut any more. Cows could be put on it I suppose but then it would just fill with cow****.

So cut the grass and sell it to farmers to feed factory-imprisoned cows with.

We could have them on treadmills for exercise. put the cows in rooms for an hour with treadmills at a few mph with rotating saws at the end where the treadmills are going towards.

Would do the trick.

Cheap meat.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

It's a darned sight cheaper to put the cows in the field and transport them to the slaughterhouse than it is to keep them in the slaughterhouse and transport the grass to them.

[David Floyd]

Right, because designing treadmills for cows and training the cows to run on them certainly wouldn't drive costs up

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

How exactly does one get an Economics degree these days? Does it involve collecting coupons and vouchers?

[Solly]

It's a darned sight cheaper to put the cows in the field and transport them to the slaughterhouse than it is to keep them in the slaughterhouse and transport the grass to them.

No it's not. You're forgetting the cost of land.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Uh huh. And how much is greenbelt land worth?

[Solly]

It's quite precious, apparently.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I won't embarrass you into backing that up. Instead- consider that this land only becomes "precious" if permission to develop it is obtained- a tricky area to say the least.

Then consider two other points- firstly that most of the land suitable for development is not used for pastoral farming. It's used for arable farming, and it's difficult to get closer to industrial conditions than that.

Secondly, if you drop all the restrictions on developing greenbelt land, what impact would that have on...

A- The housing market.

B- The wider economy?

[The Mad Monk]

You still need the land to grow the grass, so you may as well keep the cows there too -- maximize efficiency.

[Ben Kenobi]

wouldnt have thought Laz would be a charlton heston fan....

That's about as far as you could get away from Charlton Heston.

[The Mad Monk]

You mean he's not doing a take off on Soylent Green?

[Solly]

A nice abstract discussion for Saturday morning. Anyway..

Instead- consider that this land only becomes "precious" if permission to develop it is obtained- a tricky area to say the least.

No - the value of the land to society is higher than its developed value, but the private market would likely not take this into account. That's why it's not built on.

Don't think just in money terms.

Then consider two other points- firstly that most of the land suitable for development is not used for pastoral farming. It's used for arable farming, and it's difficult to get closer to industrial conditions than that.

Again, I don't see how this is relevant. The large cow shed would be built wherever land was cheapest - not necessarily where farms exist now.

Secondly, if you drop all the restrictions on developing greenbelt land, what impact would that have on...

A- The housing market.

It would most likely reduce the likelihood of booms and busts in the market as supply of houses would respond more effectively to the price level. So what?

Secondly, if you drop all the restrictions on developing greenbelt land, what impact would that have on...

B- The wider economy?

Nice to see you admitting my plan has some merit by going off at a complete tangent.

You still need the land to grow the grass, so you may as well keep the cows there too -- maximize efficiency.

How many garderners just chuck out their grass? Create a market for it in the plan I have outlined previously, and efficiency will rise.

The land that the cows were previously on would be freed up for something far more useful.

[The Mad Monk]

Won't work. Too many homeowners use pesticides, many of which would render beef unsuitable for human consumption if the cow ate them.

[Solly]

So that would create an incentive to use fewer pesticides in order to gain some £$ for your grass.

Surely for the better as well. Cheers MM.