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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kds1980" data-source="post: 63492" data-attributes="member: 1178"><a href="http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2002/Mar02/vegan.htm" target="_blank">03-05-02 OSU SCIENTIST QUESTIONS THE MORAL BASIS OF A VEGAN DIET</a>OSU SCIENTIST QUESTIONS THE MORAL BASIS OF A VEGAN DIET03-05-02By Peg Herring, 541-737-9180 SOURCE: Steven Davis, 541-737-1892CORVALLIS - Why is it right to kill the mouse and not the cow? Davis has found evidence that suggests that the unseen losses of field animals are very high. One study documented that a single operation, mowing alfalfa, caused a 50 percent reduction in the gray-tailed vole population. Mortality rates increase with every pass of the tractor to plow, plant, and harvest. Additions of herbicides and pesticides cause additional harm to animals of the field.In contrast, grazing ruminants such as cattle produce food and require fewer entries into the fields with tractors and other equipment. In grazed pastures, according to Davis, less wildlife is lost to the mower blades, and more find stable habitat in untilled fields. And no-till agriculture also helps stabilize soil and reduce run-off into streams. "Pasture-forage production, with herbivores harvesting the forage, would be the ultimate in 'no-till' agriculture," Davis said. Davis proposes a ruminant-pasture model of food production, which would replace all poultry, pig and lamb production with beef and dairy products. According to his calculations, such a model would result in the deaths of 300 million fewer animals annually (counting both field animals and cattle) than would a total vegan model. This difference, according to Davis, is mainly the result of fewer field animals killed in pasture and forage production than in the growing and harvest of grain, beans, and corn.</blockquote>

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