Meat!

Meat Production and Consumption Have Grown Steadily

• Animals for meat raised in– Pastures and rangelands– Feedlots

• Meat production increased fourfold between 1961 and 2007– Increased demand for grain–Demand is expected to go higher

Producing Meat• Rangeland– Too dry– Too steeply sloped– Too infertile… to grow crops• 40% of ice-free land area

• Pastures–Managed grasslands or enclosed

meadows

How is meat produced?

Kilograms of grain needed per kilogram of body weight

Beef cattle 7

Pigs 4

Chicken 2.2Fish (catfish

or carp) 2

•Feedlots–Account for 40%

of the world’s meat production

• Open grazing– 80% of cattle,

sheep and goats are raised on rangeland

Industrialized Meat Production

Fig. 12-8, p. 287

Producing More Meat• Condition of the world’s

rangelands• Environmental Consequences of

meat produciton – See connections page 299 (13th

edition)– Read Spotlight page 300 (13th

edition) –DECLINING!

*

How can we increase livestock yields?

hormone and antibiotic injections.

European Union (EU) banned use due to health concernsBUT US/Canada still use practice

What is rBGH?• Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH)• synthetic (man-made) hormone • marketed to dairy farmers to increase milk

production in cows. • used in the United States since it was approved

by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1993, but its use is not permitted in the European Union, Canada, and some other countries.

Rangelands & Overgrazing

• What are rangelands? – Grassland ecosystems

used to support livestock

– Livestock eat shoots of plants (for food) & leave root system intact

– CAN lead to overgrazing

Overgrazing: • Organisms exceed carrying

capacity– Increase soil erosion– Increase soil compaction–Desertification conditions

Can lead to undergrazing• Likely in more arid areas,

reduces net productivity as it does not stimulate growth

Overgrazing can lead to land degradation & eventual desertification

Degradation Desertification

How do we protect grasslands for livestock production?

Rangeland Management – works to control number of grazing animals as to not exceed carrying capacity