tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11762382.post3719570877367420206..comments2023-10-24T08:13:45.842-06:00Comments on Only in New Mexico: Eat More ChikinJim Bacahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14019944863771287149noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11762382.post-32619663498365833962011-03-19T02:11:20.166-06:002011-03-19T02:11:20.166-06:00Amen. When you consider how inefficient cow farmin...Amen. When you consider how inefficient cow farming is, it's hard to see why it goes on. It takes 1/2 to 1 1/2 acres to grow a cow back east where it actually rains sometimes, 5 acres here if you supplement grazing with hay, which consumes the biggest share of New Mexico's water, ninety percent of which goes to agriculture. And the return is so low you'd be better off just selling the water. <br /><br />Cow farming despoils the environment (especially dairy farming which pumps tons of nitrates into the southern New Mexico groundwater), and the few cows they are able to graze per acre still manage to thoroughly degrade what naturally is a colorful and varied vegetative landscape into the endless miles of those drab gray bushes cows won't eat.<br /><br />But then, you can put on a cowboy hat and feel connected to that made up American mythology, and ignore the entirely unrelated reality, and the environmental degradation, and the unhealthy diet rich in animal flesh, and the land grabs and genocide the entire agricultural economy rests upon.<br /><br />So I'm guessing somebody gave Mr Lujan a cowboy hat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com