Tom, at first I would like to report my overall impression about
the possibilities of good quality meat production.
First, I think  less intense agricultural forms are possible and are beeing
done. Like zebu farming or free range cattle which ate *not*
afterwards fattened and are not getting power food "supplementaries".
Udo Erasmus reported of some hopefull approaches in his book "Fats that
heal, Fats that kill", in the meat chapter.

Unfortunately it's the *quick* growth what produces so much bad quality
and what's making the profit for the farmers at the same time.

The USA are a great and big country and there is a 1000 * 2000 miles  big
fertile plane, as Tom Gentles reported.
There are several meters thick soils, which built up in the 10000 years
since the end of the ice age.
Ok, these fertile planes bear 24 million bisons - according to Tom's
computation or let it be double in more optimistic computations.
If the bisons get 24 years old, or let it be only 10, so that means 2.4
million bisons per year. Steaks for some (few) millions people everyday.
The bison meat will be sufficient only for a small percentage.
No way for all, IMHO.

But what is the cost?
The cost for 2 million square *miles* of land.
Economically the price for such good quality meat must be very high.
The "high" prices for good quality meat (at eatwild etc) is probably
more on the low side.

The USA are very sparsely populated with only 250 million people in this big
country. European countries are much denser populated.
There are 80 million in the small Germany for example.
That's 10 times as much, per square mile.

Then there's the actual wild game hunted. I've read some claims about the
game amount hunted that accumulates to annother 1 or 2% for all USA.

Then there's the actual wild game from the sea, fish.
I don't know how it's for other countries, but the USA alone catch some 60g
fish per head per day. quite a lot. A much bigger resource to be exploited.
Fish is a paleo key, it you assume fish was paleo (I think no homo erectus
would ever have eaten a herring or tuna).

On Sun, 5 May 2002 10:24:00 +0900, Tom Bridgeland <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>... I imagine (this is all my imagining ;--) that
>with some initial fertilization and seeding it would resemble a
>natural prairie in a few years.
>Some experiments are underway testing
>this on small areas. Very hopeful.

I think it's a good idea to re-naturalize some areas.
In a system driven by money it would only work out if the
funds were there.

>It is a cycle, and very little is taken away, unlike with grain or
>vegetable farming, where the bulk of the plant matter is removed to
>distant cities, then flushed down toilets. Only the meat and fat,
>which is mainly protein and energy, supplied by the sun and rain
>(nitrogen comes from the air too). Mineral loss would be very low, and
>easily replaceable, either naturally or through fertilizer.

Yes, when the bisons were grazing on the land, only
minerals and nitrogen of the meat would be taken away and flushed into the
toilets. Weight of 2.4 million bisons per year, from 2000 sq-miles.
That's very much more sustainable than the plant fedder industry.
In addition some plants gather some nitrogen from the air.
I think for a reduced bioproductivity it should be enough.

>Any grass can be made into silage, haylage we call it in the US. But I
>am not suggesting this either.

Why are they using predominately maize then? Maybe because it's easier to
harvest, only one time per year.

>We would use them the way the American Indians did, but with far less
>wastage. Their body fat is the same as a wild animal's. Check out the
>range cattle herds of Australia to get an idea what I mean, or the old
>system of range cattle in the US.

What you propose is a way of animal agriculture I consider acceptable and
sustainable.

>The grain based diet is being
>produced on a smaller land area every year, not due to soil
>degeneration or overpopulation as some fear, but because modern
>farming allows much greater production on smaller areas. This trend
>seems set to continue. I hope so.

I hope not. I think this very intense system must stop after some decades.
Just like the oil supply will end some day.

>Amadeus, I am interested to hear your thoughts on the situation in western
>Europe. I recall vividly my tour of French farms when I was a college
>student in the '80s.

France is a great country, bigger than Germany, whith less inhabitants.
As soon you come across the border you feel the bigger space.
Bigger woodlands, more space between settlements.

>...The French government is trying to prevent this, due to
>political realities, but economic realities push back. Germany?

Germany is like most western Europe most fertile good temperate land.
About 1/3 is wood, about 1/3 farmland.
Now we have a "green" participation in the government.
The agriculture ministery now is called consumer protection ministery.
The minister wants to develop the organic part of agriculture (above some
2%). BSE as moved a lot. People are a little more aware of the big industry
which produces the everyday supermarket substance called meat.
A little. BSE is beginning to be forgotten.

People talk about buying better quality and more expensive items.
And buy the cheap products.
Then there will be no change, because money is what makes the world go
round.

regards

Amadeus S.