THE COWS ARE ALL RIGHT

Eat artificial plant-based meat if you want, but don’t feel you’re doing the country an ecological favour (“Betting the farm”, October 21).

The photos on page 18 of the story say it all: on the left are cattle eating grass with trees in the background, which must do something to cancel the “environmental horror” of cows; on the right is brown dust-prone earth, not a tree in sight, with a dozen large machines harvesting a crop that can be made into “meat”.

Cows reproduce themselves and have little need of transport during their lives. When they are killed or die, every bit of them can be used – the meat eaten and the rest turned into such things as fertiliser, medicines, shoes, rugby balls, soap and paintbrushes.

When harvesters wear out, they are far more complicated to dispose of and have to be replaced from an overseas factory and shipped here, surely more damaging to the economy and environment than a burping cow.

And if ruminants are so eco-unfriendly, what is to be done about the millions of wild ruminants such as antelope and wildebeest? Bob and Sue Stevenson (Warkworth)