I respectfully disagree.
Wildlife such as natural bison and deer are being gunned down, excessively hunted, and fenced out of cattle land. Cows are NOT a natural part of our ecosystem. Even the wild herbivores not directly competing for the grass are being exterminated, out of paranoia they might spread brucellosis, chronic wasting disease, and other infections from cattle herd to herd.
The Yellowstone Bison Brucellosis Myth- Buffalo Field Campaign
Natural wild predators such as wildcats, foxes, and wolves are gunned down on sight. Cattlemen don't want to risk losing a dollar or two if a calf might be taken. This is not a habitat or diverse ecosystem; this is more like high density commercial beef production on taxpayer pasture land.
Destruction of most large animal herd migrations has happened, and
one article says "losing migrations may result in ecosystem collapse". Even the tiny herds of bison left
are in danger, as they're kept off the seasonal grazing lands they need.
Even smaller species are vanishing, thanks to humans; take for example
the endangered status of the Prairie Dogs. According to their organization, "The black-footed ferret depends on large prairie dog towns for food, shelter and raising its young. The plan stems from more
complaints from the ranchers who graze their cattle on the public land. Even though the U.S. Forest Service generates a mere $3,300 a year from these grazing permittees, the government is again bending to political pressure by even considering this heinous poisoning plan.
Not only does this plan kill prairie dogs with poison, it jeopardizes the entire prairie dog ecosystem the prairie dogs support including hawks, ferrets, foxes, burrowing owls and more. "
Cattlemen also hate wild horses, so thanks to the growing popularity of grass-fed cattle, we're also losing Mustangs, Nokotas, and other wild herds. This may not be as much of a natural loss, but it's a symbolic loss & a real loss of tourist dollars.
American Mustangs Killed to Make Room for Cattle Grazing
This is how the Bureal of Land Management (Fed govt agency) is solving the wild horse "problem" to keep cattlemen happy: they round the wild horses up en masse, hold them indefinitely in crowded conditions (at taxpayer expense), and quietly send some to slaughter in Mexico or Canada. This doesn't seem like good ecosystem management to me.
So the bigger picture is that taxpayers are handing over Federal lands for cattlemen to use for almost nothing -- we're lining their pockets. In return, they're emptying our natural lands of wildlife until nothing but cattle and grass is left. And in the meantime grazing, manure, and related erosion is wrecking watersheds. Here's one example of an Arizona herd destroying the watershed:
Livestock Grazing Threatens Fossil Creek Restoration, Endangered Wildlife
The only groups coming out with "proof" cattle are helping the ecosystems seem to be the cattlemen and the studies the cattle industry pays for.
Every dollar spent on this kind of meat is a dollar spent supporting an industry that eradicates entire ecosystems and empties prairies of life. It's factory farming, just without the buildings.