Kurzgesagt says Cow Biology is a “marketing lie”

Yes, cows do eat grass and turn it into meat. It's not a "marketing lie."

*This is continued from my previous post Kurzgesagt: Beautiful Propaganda

I noticed there were a few people who felt I was being unfair by using the word “propaganda” to describe Kurzgesagt’s video titled Is meat really that bad? The video basically explains why beef is a key driver of climate change. Actually, there was another section that really rubbed me the wrong way that I hadn’t shared yet. Kurzgesagt usually appears very neutral and even handed in their videos, so it struck me as odd when they said this at 7:49 in their video: "While the idea of cows turning useless grass into steak is nice, it is part of a marketing lie."

1. Kurzgesagt claims a fundamental truth about ruminant biology is a “marketing lie” 

Then they go on to say why 100% Grass fed beef is completely impractical. This is irrelevant because looking at your typical grain-finished cattle in America, the 90 million cows spend 2/3rds of their life on one of the 750,000 beef ranches… then they go to a feedlot. (This was addressed at 33:00 in this video of mine.) So these cows are most definitely taking grass, something we can’t eat and turning it into steak. 

But hold up, let’s get into specifics. How much of their diet is grass?

Based on Anne Mottet of the FAO’s 2017 paper, globally, 46% of livestock’s feed is grass & leaves. So whether your steak is 100% grass fed or not, at least half of your steak was literally the product of cow’s turning useless grass into edible steak. 

2. Kurzgesagt’s point about grazing systems is irrelevant