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Comment on High price of corn forcing farmers to feed candy to livestockparent

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Nothing specifically about chocolate. Any non-grass diet is demonstrably worse for the cows in overall health and final meat quality.

I imagine developing heart disease or diabetes later in life isn't particularly high on the list of concerns for beef cattle, considering they're sent to slaughter at a fraction of their natural life span.

The problem isn't that cows might get heart disease if they were allowed to live into old age. The problem is that these bad diets make them sick while young, often requiring that they be pumped full of medicine to be "healthy" enough to be eligible for slaughter. This affects the quality (culinary and nutritional) of the meat for humans.

That's not because of the diet, that's because of the crowded and unsanitary nature of conditions in CAFOs.

Being a meat product is also horrible for the cow's overall health. Nearly a 100% fatality rate. :)

Totally true. =)

I'm less concerned with the existential health of the cow, just health when growing and feed type. Both of these influence final meat quality, along with many other variables.

Example: Cows that were calm when killed are tastier.

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