On the western Great Plains, beef cattle are raised and later shipped to feedlots in the West and Midwest for fattening on high-protein feed, such as corn. In the Spring, the new calves are branded .
Ranchers graze their livestock on both public and private lands .
Subsidised grazing occurs on 270 million acres of American land, an area the size of California and Texas combined . There can be grave effects on habitat and wildlife. A study of the Bureau of Land Management range program estimates that 60 percent of its rangelands have lost half their native plants and grasses . Meat production around the world has enormous consequences on natural resources. With t hree times more animals than people in the world , land, water, and pollution are abused.