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Mark Zuckerberg’s new ranch in Hawaii that raises “world-class” cattle on beer and macadamia nuts is facing backlash for fueling climate change.
The Facebook founder, 39, announced on Instagram Wednesday that he and his family will be raising wagyu and angus cows on their multi-million-dollar compound in Kauai, Hawaii.
In his surprising new journey to “create some of the highest quality beef in the world,” the billionaire said his cattle will be raised on macadamia meal and beer, which is also grown on his property, Ko’olau Ranch.
“We want the whole process to be local and vertically integrated,” Zuckerberg, who is worth nearly $130 billion, said, alongside a photo of him enjoying a medium rare steak. “We’re still early in the journey and it’s fun improving on it every season.
“Of all my projects, this is the most delicious.”
The father-of-three also announced that the project was family-orientated and that his daughters helped “plant the mac trees and take care of our different animals.”
He shared an image of one of his daughters wearing a unicorn-print dress and Crocs while shoveling dirt out of a hole to plant a macadamia nut tree on the property.
Their animals will each eat around 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of food each year, Zuckerberg said, meaning the family will have “lots of acres” of trees to harvest.
However, if giving a cow a pint to drink seems odd, it’s actually not.
Farmers have long fed their cattle the alcoholic beverage, as well as the mushy spent grain leftover from the brewing process for years, according to Illinois State University.
Beer is used to stimulate appetite, especially in wagyu, to create a better end product.
It is said to be Japanese tradition to feed wagyu beer in hot weather, according to a 2015 HuffPost report.
As for macadamia nuts, studies have shown the nut can “successfully replace feed grains,” a report in the Journal of Animal Science found.
Despite his modern approach to feeding, many critics have taken to social media to slam Zuckerberg’s new hobby, highlighting how cows produce methane gas when they burp, which is helping fuel climate change.
“Proud of you, man. You really fulfilled that dream of putting food in your mouth in the manner that causes the most climate change possible for a human being,” said author Andrew Greenberg.
Shalin Gala, who works for PETA, condemned the Meta owner, writing on X: “Mark Zuckerberg says he’s now ‘started raising cattle; at his property in Hawaii, feeding them beer, and then killing them. Mark, the Dark Ages called and it wants you back. #goVegan.”
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