Human greed turns cows into carnivores

IF I had stated that cows are omnivorous in my high school biology exam, I would have failed grossly.

Yet we can’t say American cows are herbivores when we feed them rendered cattle remains, poultry litter (including excrement, spilled feed, dirt, feathers, etc), and when calves are fed cattle blood protein as a replacement for whole milk.

Clearly, cows eat and ‘need’ animal protein, which is more nutritious than that produced from fermented grass.

Why? Because, as a British professor of animal welfare, John Webster, has stated, dairy cows are higher producers than top human athletes. They need an extreme amount of protein to maintain their milk production of up to eight gallons a day.

Prior to genetic manipulation, natural milk production was around 1.5 gallons a day. Beef cattle also need an extreme amount of protein to fatten up, which is only possible when they are fed animal protein.

So, in order to satisfy our own greed, we have turned herbivores into carnivores, thus placing cows at risk of Mad Cow Disease and ourselves at risk of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, its deadly human equivalent. Let our cows be cows and carnivores be carnivores.

I’ll be sticking to tofu until our farmers learn the difference.

Jasmijn de Boo,

56, Dinshah Lane,

Malaga,

New Jersey, 08328,

USA.