I expect a substantial portion of that cow pasture/range land is dry grasslands and shrub steppe out west. It’s rough terrain and not good for much else. A lot of it doesn’t even have cows on it most of the time.

It simply takes a loooot of food to produce 1kg of beef

Vegans and ecologists have been talking about this exact issue for a while now

if its alafalfa, i think alot of farm land are, its usually exported to the Middle east.