Talk:Cattle feeding
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The subject of this article seems fine to me, I have nothing against grass-fed beef, it's just that the link at the end seems to make the entire article seem like an advertisement. User:Paddy_O'Leibowitz_McGoldstein 22:22, 19 August 2005 (UTC)
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[edit] Assertion about BSE
I removed the unsourced and unverifiable assertion about a "mistaken assumption" regarding a lower risk of BSE from grass-fed beef. In point of fact, BSE has been verifiably associated with contamination of animal feed with mammalian animal tissue, particularly nervous system tissue; in the case of grass-fed rather that feedlot beef, this is not an issue. See (for example) [1], [2], and [3]. MCB 01:46, 27 May 2006 (UTC)
- Restoring It is far from settled whether eating animals with BSE is a cause of vCJD. It is also widely suspected that cannibalistic feeding is a cause of BSE. While I don't have good cites for it right now, I believe the assertion should be restored until better documented. In your 3 citations, one is from a beef lobbying organization and is obviously POV, one is from the USDA, which is heavily lobbied by that same organization, and the lsat one discusses banning animal feeds because of the concern of BSE and vCJD. Dgies 20:28, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
- Dgies, I'm not quite sure what you are saying here. I think we agree with each other, but there was another editor who recently removed the feedlot -> BSE/vCJD connection, not me. What I removed in May was unsourced language that asserted that there was a mistaken assumption that grass-fed beef had a lower risk than feedlot beef (that is, that feedlot beef, due to the possibility of cannibalism of beef nervous-system tissue, had a higher risk than grass-fed beef). The sources cited support that connection, and whatever you might feel about the USDA, I believe it to be a reliable source for Wikipedia purposes. --MCB 22:08, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
- It wasn't meant personally. I recently made a revision adding info on the vCJD logic in favor of grass fed and Vpivet quickly reverted it. Looking ofer the changelog I took this to mean there was some "consensus" on the talk page to not list anything about BSE and vCDJ in this article. I guess all I'm saying is while I haven't properly cited, the cattle feed-BSE-vCDJ link is widely publicized enough to merit mention here. Dgies 22:23, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
- I agree entirely; your logic seems fine to me. Cheers, --MCB 23:36, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
- It wasn't meant personally. I recently made a revision adding info on the vCJD logic in favor of grass fed and Vpivet quickly reverted it. Looking ofer the changelog I took this to mean there was some "consensus" on the talk page to not list anything about BSE and vCDJ in this article. I guess all I'm saying is while I haven't properly cited, the cattle feed-BSE-vCDJ link is widely publicized enough to merit mention here. Dgies 22:23, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
- Dgies, I'm not quite sure what you are saying here. I think we agree with each other, but there was another editor who recently removed the feedlot -> BSE/vCJD connection, not me. What I removed in May was unsourced language that asserted that there was a mistaken assumption that grass-fed beef had a lower risk than feedlot beef (that is, that feedlot beef, due to the possibility of cannibalism of beef nervous-system tissue, had a higher risk than grass-fed beef). The sources cited support that connection, and whatever you might feel about the USDA, I believe it to be a reliable source for Wikipedia purposes. --MCB 22:08, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
Apologies Dgies...I'm new and didn't realize this forum existed. Although I don't disagree with the proposed health benefits of grass fed beef, I do object to the including hot button vocab words like "factory farming" & "cannibalistsic." I was merely trying to bring some balance into what is a very one sided story. Perhaps this more recent change can be a compromise.
[edit] Sustainable Agriculture
I notice that this is in the sustainable agriculture category without comment. While raising cattle on grass is probably more sustainable than raising them on corn, it should be noted that in many countries pastures are heavily fertilised in order to maintain high stocking levels. Lisiate 01:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] generalizing
I've reworked and expanded this article to be on the debate between corn-fed vs grass-fed cattle, rather than just a one-sided argument for grass-fed beef. —Quarl (talk) 2006-08-12 22:24Z
- I've continued the trend set forth above by providing more background on the cattle industry and providing counter points to ensure a more balanced article. vpivet
[edit] Removed dubious statements
I removed the following 2 dubious and unsourced statements (introduced by anonymous with this change):
- "Beef is the second most important source of Omega-3 fatty acids and other essential nutrients in western diets. " -- This is not true, as the article Omega-3 fatty acid clearly describes. In fact, it is one of the least important sources.
- "Grass-fed beef in many countries lacks the consistancy of grain-fed product, mostly due to the vagaries of weather in major broadacre cattle production countries like Brazil and Australia." -- I heard the opposite is true, but I can't cite a source for it just now. Unless we have a reliable source we should leave it out altogether.
Common Man 19:43, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Antibiotics
I clarified the usage of antibiotics and cited the risk factors involved in treatment of bovine respiratory disease, the most common disease for which antibitotics are prescribed. -vpivet
