Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.

Language:

Download

Go BackAdd Note

Link

Embed

Save for later

Environmental Impact: RaisingPasture FedBeef

Perhaps no species except for mankinditself that has gotten a worse rap aboutadversely affecting the environment thanraising pasture fed beef .The problem is not the cow, but therancher. It's how you raise cattle thatmatters.This section is going to tell the tip of aniceberg of little known data - how livestock raised according to natural patterns willactually

improve

the land they live on,and better than the majority of farming out there.I'll have to discount a great deal of "conventional wisdom" which has grown up over the lastfew years. Most of this is urban legend, created by people with their own special reasons. Allthis data came to light as I studied to improve our own livestock care standards.I only care here to tell what I know as the truth - from someone who has decided to make theirliving from raising food for other people. There is no real conclusive evidence on one side orthe other - people will choose to believe as they will. But there is also no one-sided argumentwhich will stand on its own. We only know what works for us on our particular farm, as well asthe studies I'll refer to and link here.And again, if you find something useful, please tell your friends and family about what youfound here.How grass fed beef with mob grazing cut greenhouse gasesNow, this takes into account the paradigm that you believe (or tolerate) the idea that somegases can create a “greenhouse effect” and add or detract from global temperatures. Jury isstill out – and has been for some time. Another discussion, another time…But Time Magazine recently did an articlecovering how some “greenies” on the East Coastal

Visithttp://worstellfarms.comfor moreinformation.

have decided to get into raising beef in order to save the environment. Not just any of theseacademic megalopolis types, but real bona-fide environmentally-responsible authors whowalk their talk:None of this would be remarkable if it weren’t for the fact that [these] …are two of the most highly regarded organic-vegetable farmers in the country: Eliot Colemanwrote the bible of organic farming, The New Organic Grower, and BarbaraDamrosch is the Washington Post’s gardening columnist. At a time when a growingnumber of environmental activists are calling for an end to eating meat, this veggie-centric power couple is beginning to raise it.Turns out that the studies these radical activists arequoting are actually missing part of the data.When you spend all that fuel raising corn or othergrains, and then all that fuel transporting this grain tofeedlots, then coop up animals in unhealthy conditionswhere their manure ferments and creates more gases –guess what? You’ve just made a ton of all sorts of thesegasses to get your beef.Now, grass fed beef, especially in mob grazing, takes adifferent approach. Perennial grass consumes thesegasses. Beef, when rotated in a managed grazingprogram (especially in high-density mob grazing)actually stimulate this growth by cropping, fertilizing,aerating, and cultivating that pasture so that it actually gets healthier and lusher – making it grow more andconsume more of these “greenhouse gasses”. Thearticle covers this:“Much of the carbon footprint of beef comes from growing grain to feed theanimals, which requires fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, pesticides, transportation,”says Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. “Grass-fed beef has amuch lighter carbon footprint.” Indeed, although grass-fed cattle may producemore methane than conventional ones, their net emissions are lower because they help the soil sequester carbon.When you add that in with local processing (not trucked hundreds of miles), you then cut thenet gas level enormously.You also have to take into account that a lot of the quoted studies producing this data are very,very flawed. But I’ll go into that later.Some interesting quotes out of thisarticle:By many standards, pastured beef is healthier. That’s certainly the case for theanimals involved; grass feeding obviates the antibiotics that feedlots are forced toadminister in order to prevent the acidosis that occurs when cows are fed grain. Butit also appears to be true for people who eat cows. Compared with conventionalbeef, grass-fed is lower in saturated fat and higher in omega-3s, the heart-healthy

Visithttp://worstellfarms.comfor moreinformation.

fatty acids found in salmon.But the activist radical vegans will argue that if you don’t eat meat, it will save you eatingthose hormones and so the greenhouse gasses as well. Time rebuts this:To Allan Savory, the economies-of-scale mentality ignores the role that grass-fedherbivores can play in fighting climate change. A former wildlife conservationist inZimbabwe, Savory once blamed overgrazing for desertification. “I was prepared toshoot every bloody rancher in the country,” he recalls. But through rotationalgrazing of large herds of ruminants, he found he could reverse land degradation,turning dead soil into thriving grassland.(See TIME’s special report on theenvironment.)Like him, Coleman now scoffs at the environmentalist vogue for vilifying meateating. “The idea that giving up meat is the solution for the world’s ills isridiculous,” he says at his Maine farm. “A vegetarian eating tofu made in a factory from soybeans grown in Brazil is responsible for a lot more CO2 than I am.” A lifetime raising vegetables year-round has taught him to value the elegance of natural systems. Once he and Damrosch have brought in their livestock, they’ll “beable to use the manure to feed the plants, and the plant waste to feed the animals,”he says. “And even though we can’t eat the grass, we’ll be turning it into somethingwe can.”As I’ve said, there’s a lot more to bring to light in this area. As I can, I'll update this site withmore pages or links.For now,check out the Time articleand decide for yourself.

- - - -For more data on raisingpasture fed beef