Bugsy - delighted to see you are still around.. and you almost have a point. Now that I look at it, the original quote on grazing land in the Amazon is completely meaningless.. the area converted could be 1 pc or 50 pc. Not to worry, though. As I understand it cleared area in that part of the world quickly returns to jungle - a major problem, as I understand it, with slash and burn cultivation.

Note to others - all beef is produced free range - if you think otherwise produce stats. Almost all chicken is produced by factory methods.. dunno about pork and bacon. I imagine you'd quickly get into definitions.

Well yes, it could be 1% or 50% or whatever, unless you actually looked it up of course. But that would be depressing so lets not do that.

As far as I can tell, feedlots are not classed as "free range". For Australia at least 40% of our entire beef supply and 80% of all beef sold in supermarkets are produced by feedlots.

http://www.feedlots.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=111

So, I think otherwise Mark.

*My feeling is you're presenting a somewhat romanticized picture here, which, if not already a thing of the past, is certainly under threat as struggling farmers are bought out by largescale agricultural interests.*

Your feeling could well be wrong, Bronwyn. You need to get out into
the country more often :)

Cows and sheep do in fact eat grass, often on country that is simply
not suitable for cropping, especially intensive cropping, which
you are suggesting as an alternative.

Now if you really want that land to wash and blow away, try organic
farming. No herbicides means cultivating the soil to death to kill
those pesky weeds.

Some cattle are indeed lotfed to finish them off, especially for
the Japanese market. But that is a very small % of the herd.

Chickens and pigs are produced indoors, on grain, yup.

But of course the author ignores the real elephant in the room.
250'000 people a day, added to the global population each and every
day. Its been happening for most of her lifetime, each and every day.

To now attack herbivores for doing what comes naturally and calling
it the elephant in the room, is a bit of a stretch indeed. The
only ones whom I know, making such claims, are those tied up with
animal liberation etc, as they have a problem with us eating meat.

What influences methane production is it FAT , Rabbit meat has no fat ,is it unreasonable to suggest that the CSIRO should be engaged to find out if rabbit genes can be applied to Cattle , Sheep etc.

If GOD didn't intend us to eat meat why are we equipped with both upper and lower teeth?

Mr Rudd in his first 2 weeks in office burnt 1500 tonns of Av gas on his AGW pilgrimage how many Hereford farts would that equal?

Methane the only perfectly symmetrical molecule , was it's existence a mistake ? Can the world do without it ?

What is the result of catalysing nickel turbine blades with all the gasses contained in the air levels that jet aircraft fly thru plus what influence does the loaded gases as a result have on AGW .

If we stop eating meat as we were intended to do will we have to consume copious quantities of Silver Beet or could chemical supplements fix the iron deficient diet .

The meat industry is a huge industry how will we re-employ that many people , Farmers,retailers,wholesalers,vets,transport people, auctioneers,Bakery, restaurants,big mac, small goods plus everyone that makes food taste good oh I forgot sausages&Barbaque manufactures !
The mind boggles how boring could life become Bob Browns favourite snags AGW modified made from mash potatoes and Methyl Chloride WoW what a hoot CH3CL's !
What about the old standby Spag-Boll the Master Piece that replaced Irish Stew another Crippel-U how do you make Irish Stew no meat.

The most frighting tragedy last : "If you don't eat your meat you won't be able to figure out what sex you are".

"Global warming has been widely acknowledged to be responsible for more extreme weather.."

By whom, exactly? Not by anyone who is in a position to know. As they say in Wikipedia: 'Citation needed'.

Humans are omnivores by natural decree and obtain good protein supply through eating meat. Good protein supply is more difficult to obtain through vegetarianism.

Low levels of protein adversely affect physical and mental development in infants and children. Countries which are primarily vegetarian are often so because of lack of available protein.

As developing countries become richer they eat more meat as it is a much more efficient way to obtain energy and protein. This is now happening in China, for example. Physical size, mental development and physical strength are all disadvantaged by limiting protein input.

Vegetarians need to eat more and more frequently than omnivores because the calorific value is much lower in vegetables. Cows are a good example of this constant need to graze.

Large scale vegetarianism requires much more land to be used for vegetable production and much more food would need to be produced to obtain the benefits protein now provides. Large scale vegetarianism is inefficient, overly manpower and energy intensive, scientifically without merit and likely to lead to malnutrition in times when crops are adversely affected by natural disasters.

The belief that eating vegetables would lessen greenhouse gases is doubtful and driven by current Green ideology than scientific or medical knowledge.