Cows are given a supplemental feed in the winter that does contain grain, usually corn, or sometimes cottonseed meal, among other things in order to keep them in healthy condition when the weather is cold and grasses are mostly dormant. They will be given this supplement whether or not someone in the city reduces their beef intake. I have seen no alternative winter feed for cows proposed that does not contain grain in order to provide extra protein and energy for cows in winter. The dormant grasses and hays do not provide enough.

The steaks mentioned do not come from cows anyway, but come from steers or heifers that are either totally grass fed, or are mostly grass fed. Comparisons with the Japanese Kobe beef are not really valid. Perhaps all cattle are essentially corn fed in Japan, where no vast grasslands exist, but that is certainly not the case in the US. It might make more sense to cut back on chicken or pork, which ARE essentially totally grain fed in the US.

I think that Mr Vilsack will make a fine Secretary of Agriculture. I applaud an excellent choice.....

If Cheney went home to fish, wouldn't that be somewhere in Texas? At least that was his home in the years before the vice presidency. Bush and Cheney were both Texas residents.

There is no agreement as to what constitutes a "factory farmed meat". There is much work to be done in defining the relevant terminology before such discussions can be of much value.

for their attempting to correct some widely propagated "facts" about farming and ranching.

Many progressives rely on sources like Salon to inform them on issues, including agricultural issues. I've read so many times that cattle are no longer allowed to graze in pastures, that they are now raised in windowless barns, with no room to turn or to lay down. And that family ranches no longer exist, and that all animal agriculture is now "factory farming".

Eric Schlosser, in Fast Food Nation, claims that family ranching is all in the past, and that ranchers can no longer make a living running a mere 300 cows. I'm not sure what happened physiologically, but I almost went into seizures when I read that.

I think that the poor quality of information from progressive sources on agricultural issues stems from the fact that progressive readers, and writers, and editors all generally assume that all farmers and ranchers are republicans, and as one comment upthread stated, all farmers voted for McCain and Palin. I'm sure that they also assume that all executives of corporate agribusiness are republicans, so why not just lump them all together, family farmers, family ranchers, and Monsantos. This mindset makes it easy to discount the complaints of farmers and ranchers, as not having a viewpoint worth listening to.

I know a lot of farmers and ranchers. Family farmers and family ranchers. Many are democrats.

this California rancher is a piece of work. I like him. Like a champion bullshitter, he can look this reporter in the eye and say this outlandish nonsense. Like a lot of ranchers, or people in general I guess, he's not eager to reveal how much he makes, but he already has.........the reporter just doesn't recognize it. Since he is selling approximately 1000 weaned calves per year, at approximately $600/calf, the yearly ranch revenues would be about $600,000. Governmental subsidies would be, well, zero. After expenses, probably around $100 per cow, the ranch yearly income would be $500,000. And that's "just getting by"...."just barely making it work". Yeah....we should all be squeaking by like that. The reporter seemed to have no clue that she was being bullshitted. But I'm sure that Eric Schlosser did. He just chose to pass along the bullshit as if it were reality.