Hey mousethief, Beef cattle are rarely fed on grass. They are fed high protein food - often soya - which could directly be fed to humans instead. Don't get me wrong, there are much worse things than eating meat. Most of the people I love do. There may be a case for using marginal land for raising sheep - which generally do feed on grass if you are not bothered by the ethics of killing animals for food. But the cattle industry is geared to producing extremely fast growing animals fed on high protein foods.