The Least Harm Principle Suggests that Humans Should Eat Beef, Lamb, Dairy, not a Vegan Diet

First of all, this paper/report is from OSU, OREGON. Need I say more?

Animals of the field are killed by several factors, including: 1. Tractors and farm implements run over them. 2. Plows and cultivators destroy underground burrows and kill animals. 3. Removal of the crops (harvest) removes ground cover allowing animals on the surface to be killed by predators. 4. Application of pesticides.

This is laughable. We raise beef steers. None of them have ever been run over by tractors or farm implements. They are too expensive to buy and raise to be so careless. First rule of the farming road: No drinking and tractoring.

#2 Seasonal flooding of the irrigation ditch also destroys and kills underground animals. This is a good thing. If the burrows are too big and soft a steer can break a leg with a fall. Them pesky critters (the underground kind) also destroy gardens in one night. Kill em all!

#3 Yeah, so. Crops are to be harvested. This is mother nature at work. It's how the world works. Get a grip.

#4 We have never had to use pesticides. But if we needed to we would. It's called rotation. Let the cattle feed on one section of unsprayed ground while the sprayed section sits for a couple of weeks. Get it?

Now, all you liberals, you can have my portion of tofu if I can have your portion of beef.

In case you didn't know, this argument has been easily refuted.

It argues that more animals die in growing plants than the animals that are killed for meat. This is partly true: many animals living in the ag fields are killed when the plants are harvested. However, we must feed the animals we eat, and, in fact, feed them 10 times as much plant matter as we would eat ourselves if we just ate the plants. (10-times is an average; some animals consume less, some consume more.) So we have to grow 10 times as much plant matter AND THEREFORE KILL 10 TIMES AS MANY ANIMALS in order to eat animals over plants. And this is without taking into account the number of animals being fed these plants...

So, while eating solely plants does often result in the death of nonhumanimals, eating animals will just as often require a far larger number of nonhumanimals killed in the process.

So, if we are trying to minize our harm, eating plants wins out. Unless, of course, you are eating wild game or 100% grass-fed animals, or other 'special' conditions are present.

Livestock are generally fed a grade of feed (corn, wheat, etc.) that is considered inedible by human standards, being either too tough or unsuitable in some other way. Eating the corn and such grown for them would just not be possible. Secondly, not all soil is equally fertile and many farmers don't have much choice in what they can grow on their patch of land. Because of the fertility, it may be either impractical or even impossible to grow higher grade crops, suited for human consumption.

If stuck with land such as above, it would only be sensible to raise crops suited for livestock, as well as the livestock to feed it to if space allows. If there's rights for the field mice, then does that mean the farmer who owns the land should let his family go broke and starve? At least the people who don't follow a strict vegan diet make use of the animals they kill (cows, sheep, chickens, etc.) by eating them. Strict vegetarians don't make any use of the animals killed while harvesting their food.

Also, if there's no moral "cost" to going vegan, then what about the controlled hunts to eliminate pests like deer from the fields? How about the disruption of that field's ecosystem by farmers introducing predators into the area who kill off smaller pests such as rodents and insects?

To say there's any sort of superiority morally to going vegan is pure hypocrisy.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.