Pork comes in after chicken in the traditional meats as it can be farmed intensively to reduce land use impacts and can eat waste streams. Besides the ethical concerns of murdering an intelligent animal in pork, kangaroo farming would take a fair bit of space and some unusual fencing. Could you even herd them well to be factory efficient?
Now if everyone dropped their meat consumption to near zero and we stopped land clearing and started fire stick farming to create palatable pick for kangaroos then used targeted hunting, I guess it would be sustainable? Certainly less erosive than beef/goat/sheep.
Just thinking out loud. Thanks for sharing regardless. Butcher or hunted kangaroo, where did it come from?
It was from the butcher, roo shooting licences are even more restrictive than gun licences.
As far as sustainability goes I think it comes down to whether you look at it under “ideal” conditions or conditions as they are now. Under “least environmental impact, highest farming intensity” I’d agree that pork is probably better, but that’s not how things are.
Kangaroo populations are basically a byproduct of European grazing practices in Australia for sheep and cattle, they’ll exist at more than sustainable population numbers regardless of if they’re harvested or not and thus harvesting them has little to no environmental impact.
All good, mate. It really comes down to how we define the words used and I like your second choice over the first; low impact vs sustainable.
We won’t be feeding the population nor having any ecological benefit but eating kangaroo in that situation is definitely lower impact than any other farmed meat.
Just splitting hairs with you, not looking for arguments. Enjoy the meal.
That’s they way I understand it too. Kangaroo “overgrazing” directly relies on other animal agriculture to create the food sources that they need to thrive since we don’t manage the land in similar ways any more. Kangaroos also like a nice golf course/sportsfield/lawn/road edge which is fossil fuel dependent.
This is an interesting thought experiment.
Pork comes in after chicken in the traditional meats as it can be farmed intensively to reduce land use impacts and can eat waste streams. Besides the ethical concerns of murdering an intelligent animal in pork, kangaroo farming would take a fair bit of space and some unusual fencing. Could you even herd them well to be factory efficient?
Now if everyone dropped their meat consumption to near zero and we stopped land clearing and started fire stick farming to create palatable pick for kangaroos then used targeted hunting, I guess it would be sustainable? Certainly less erosive than beef/goat/sheep.
Just thinking out loud. Thanks for sharing regardless. Butcher or hunted kangaroo, where did it come from?
It was from the butcher, roo shooting licences are even more restrictive than gun licences.
As far as sustainability goes I think it comes down to whether you look at it under “ideal” conditions or conditions as they are now. Under “least environmental impact, highest farming intensity” I’d agree that pork is probably better, but that’s not how things are.
Kangaroo populations are basically a byproduct of European grazing practices in Australia for sheep and cattle, they’ll exist at more than sustainable population numbers regardless of if they’re harvested or not and thus harvesting them has little to no environmental impact.
All good, mate. It really comes down to how we define the words used and I like your second choice over the first; low impact vs sustainable.
We won’t be feeding the population nor having any ecological benefit but eating kangaroo in that situation is definitely lower impact than any other farmed meat.
Just splitting hairs with you, not looking for arguments. Enjoy the meal.
yeah nah you’re good, no argument here. It’s an interesting point of discussion as to what constitutes environmentally sustainable.
I don’t believe you can farm kangaroos. All the kangaroo meat sold is an animal that’s been culled to reduce overgrazing from my understanding
That’s they way I understand it too. Kangaroo “overgrazing” directly relies on other animal agriculture to create the food sources that they need to thrive since we don’t manage the land in similar ways any more. Kangaroos also like a nice golf course/sportsfield/lawn/road edge which is fossil fuel dependent.
Back to the drawing board it seems.