Reply #14: Range cattle are a way of drawing human benefit out of a landscape [View All]

[XemaSab]

without too many humans actually involved.

As I see it, the problem is that range cattle do need human infrastructure (such as fences and watering troughs), and range cattle can be a detriment to the natural landscape (especially in finishing).

The environment would be a lot happier if the finishing step was eliminated. Free range cattle are chewy, but they wouldn't be happy in North Dakota without a lot of input.

Bison would be a lot happier in North Dakota, and they would be harvested without the finishing. They'd be chewy, but you could cut them in with finished beef and they'd be more edible.