5.7 - Meat Production Methods

Question 1

CAFOs

Answer 1

• Also called feedlots - densely crowded method where animals are fed grain (corn) to raise them to as quickly as possible

pros
- Maximizes land use and profit (most meat production per/unit of area)
- Minimizes cost of meat for consumers

Cons
- Given antibiotics & growth hormones to prevent disease outbreak & speed meat production
- Animals produce large volume of waste which can contaminate nearby surface or groundwater
- Produces large amounts of CO2, CH4 (methane), and N2O (greenhouse gasses → climate change)

Question 2

Manure Lagoons

Answer 2

• Large, open storage pits for animal waste (manure)
• Waste contains: ammonia (N), hormones, antibiotics, fecal coliform bacteria (e. coli)

cons
- Heavy rain can flood lagoons & contaminate nearby surface and ground water with runoff
- Denitrification of ammonia in manure produces N2O (extremely powerful GFG)

Pros
- Can be emptied and buried in landfills, or turned into fertilizer pellets

Question 3

Free range grazing

Answer 3

• Animals (usually cows) graze on grass & grow at a natural rate without growth hormones

Pros
- No need for antibiotics with dispersed pop.
- Doesn’t require production of corn to feed animals
- Waste is dispersed over land naturally, acting as fertilizer instead of building up in lagoons
- Animals can graze on land too dry for most crop growth

Cons
- Requires more total land use/pound of meat produced
- More expensive to consumer

Question 4

Overgrazing

Answer 4

Cons
- Too many animals grazing an area of land can remove all the vegetation (grass) which leads to topsoil erosion
- Animals also compact soil, decreasing H2O holding capacity → more erosion
- Desertification can occur if plants are killed by overgrazing & soil is compacted so much that it can’t hold enough water anymore

How to prevent overgrazing:
- Rotational grazing (moving animals periodically) can prevent overgrazing
- Can even increase growth of grass by distributing manure (natural fertilizer) & clipping grass back to size where growth is most rapid

Question 5

Inefficiency of Meat

Answer 5

• Producing meat for humans to eat is far less efficient than producing plants in terms of energy, land and water use
• Energy: all of the energy needed to plant, grow, harvest plants to feed to animals
  - energy needed to bring water to animals
  - energy needed to house animals
  - energy needed to slaughter & package
• Land: all of the energy needed to grow plants to feed animals PLUS room the animals take up
• Water: all of the water for crops that animals eat PLUS the water the animals drink