This doesn't relate directly to your question but it's related to AR and it's something I noticed a while ago. AR people like to talk about how many acres/pounds of food it takes to raise beef vs. how much less it takes to grow a comparable amount of vegetable protien. There is a big difference and that fact is often used to support claims that vegetables are much better for the environment.



In some cases this may be true, I'm admittedly not very knowledgable on the subject. However I do alot of fieldherping, including roadcruising, and it has led me to an interesting observation. Most of the agricultural areas I've roadcruised are deviod of snakes. The exception being where there is a significant buffer zone of natural or semi-natural habitat between the agriculture and the road. In contrast most, if not all, cattle grazing areas I've hunted have an abundance of snake life. I make several trips per year to the Sierra Nevada Mtns., coming from the coast. It is about a five hour drive for me and usually the return trip takes place at night. The drive takes me through extensive areas of both agriculture and grazing so I've had the chance to roadcruise both habitats on the same nights and under the same weather conditions. Where the agriculture comes right up to the road I almost never see any snakes, neither live nor dead. In the grazed areas I have seen tons of snakes, both live and dead.

Anyways, I thought this was worth mentioning as the AR movement always gives beef a bad rap but I think it's much more complex than they make it out to be.

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