Meat production and forestry techniques. Flashcards
An area where livestock are fed and fattened up before slaughter. List the pros and cons.
Feedlots/CAFO
Pros: Most profitable due to a large amount of product in a small amount of space. Less land conversion compared to pastures.
Cons: Green must be produced somewhere else and shipped in to feed them. High amounts of waste produced in a small area means high likelihood of runoff at nutrient pollution. Often inhumane conditions for the animals.
Livestock are raised on private pastors or on government lands through permitting. Livestock are raised for the commercial production of meat. List the pros and cons.
Rangeland/pasture land.
Pros: No need for grain production exclusively for feeding to livestock because they grades right in the open country. More humane conditions for the animals. Can be very profitable if the cost of land is not very high.
Cons: way more land is converted into food production. Habitat loss, disturbance, fragmentation are all results.
Fish farming. List the pros and cons.
Aquaculture.
Pros: can be very profitable due to a large amount of product in a small amount of space. Less ecosystem disturbance because the fish are not collected out of their natural environments which can severely disrupt food web interactions.
Cons: the close quarters of all of the fish means that there is an increased need for antibiotics. A tremendous amount of waste produced can disrupt water quality.
Livestock is raised on locally owned pastures or on wild lands. Livestock are rotated through different environments as overgrazing occurs. The livestock is for feeding and clothing the immediate village or family. No livestock are sold at markets for industrialize profit. List the pros and cons.
Nomadic herding
Pros: More humane treatment for animals. No need for grain production to feed the livestock since they graze in the open country.
Cons: a lot of land is disturbed by the grazing of the animals in natural ecosystems. There’s a risk of not having enough livestock to feed the local community if there’s a disease outbreak. Not profitable to mass produce food in this way.
How is most of the meat produced in the US?
Feedlots, US consumes lots of meat.
