"Creature" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 23:08:24 GMT, wowfabgroovy wrote:
> > is there a reason why most/all food animals are naturally herbivorous?
> > i know people eat dogs in some countries, but are there any other
> > naturally carnivorous animals that are used for food?
>
> I'd say food chain issues make keeping carnivourous animals for food even
> more wasteful. Energy is lost, the further up the food chain you go -
> Feeding a cow a ton of veggies than eating it will give you less energy
> than eating the veggies yourself, as some of the energy in the veggies has
> gone into the cow moving, breathing, circulating blood etc. Feeding the
> cow to a dog, or a set of dogs, then eating the dogs gives you even less
> energy because the dogs will have used some of that energy too. This is
> stuff I remember from biology; there's probably something similar in place
> regarding nutrients.

I suppose a ton veggies requires no expenditure of energy and effort to
grow? Raising cattle for food is very efficient - the animal does most of
the work for you - but growing vegetables is labour intensive and not always
successful. Having had the experience of growing both for personal
consumption, I have found raising a tonne of beef is far less work than
growing a tonne of vegetables.