i’ve always thought leather to be a byproduct of the meat industries (for cows at least) so i had to research this when i saw the article.

it turns out that cows are not killed just for leather as the website states. cow hide sold for leather represents only about 5% of the total value of a cow that is slaughtered. no one who raises cows could stay in business by selling them just for the value of their skin considering how much it would cost to raise a cow for maybe 2 years. in poorly developed countries i can’t imagine cow hide being sold for leather and the meat not being utilized for food.

if cow skin is not of leather quality it usually ends being ground up and included in food for other animals such as pigs.

there are some animals that are slaughtered just for their skin if it is valuable enough such as alligators.

i’m not favoring the use of leather or supporting the leather/meat industry but i do like accurate internet information (which is becoming much less common).

what’s the source of the ‘final numbers’ because they do not agree with what i have been able to find? and how can they be final when no one knows how any individual voted?

based on the initial numbers i saw just after the election, trump got a number of votes similar to what he garnered in the last two elections. but harris got about 15 million votes less than Biden. so a large number of people who voted democrat in 2020 just didn’t bother to vote in 2024 and most of them were probably registered democrats. was it the fact that harris is both black and a woman that soured them on voting in 2024? seems likely.