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Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Why Livestock are important


With the pressure of feeding an ever growing population it has been suggested that livestock are a burden on the food chain.  The United Nations estimates that food supply needs to increase by 70-100% by 2050.  There are even some who suggest that going vegetarian would solve world hunger.  There is no doubt we need to do something, but is this the solution?

Presently a third of the world’s cereal harvest is fed to farm animals and for every 100 calories of cereals eaten by livestock only 30 calories of food is generated in the form of meat, milk and eggs.  It is estimated that if this cereal was used for human consumption it would feed 3 billion people.   

However, the question is more how we farm our livestock.  Factory farming often expounded as the solution to producing food more intensely is in fact highly resource intensive.  It means the livestock rely heavily on the type of cereals that would otherwise go into the human food chain. This is bonkers!  What’s more since the start of modern farming we’ve lost about a third of the world’s top soil.  This is one of our most valuable resources, without it we cannot grow anything.  Most of our fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides come from oil and this is very calorie inefficient.

If our livestock are raised in more natural conditions then they become an asset.  Many livestock can thrive in landscapes not suitable for raising crops and they naturally feed on things people would not want to eat.  Sheep on a moorland, pigs through a woodland or chickens in our own backyards recycling our food waste.  Also livestock effectively through their metabolism produce fantastic natural fertilisers for the soil and help to improve our top soil and increase the sustainability of the land. 















The key is to place the right livestock in the right place.  In fact the Shropshire sheep, once close to extinction, has found a new application.  It is one of the few animals that eats exclusively grass and has been used to great effect by tree growers and vineyards to keep the grass down, saving the growers time and money in maintenance.

Do livestock have a place in an ever stretched planet?  Yes, a crucial one.  Not in inefficient, intensive systems but in a more natural environment, earning their keep through the food and soil fertility they leave behind.  Would you want to see a landscape with no animals in it?

2 comments:

  1. Couldn't agree more Muddy Carrot! I think sharing our landscape with animals (not sure I like the word 'live-stock'), utilising their skills and sharing ours with them, whether we eventually eat them or not, is important to healthy, well lived life on this planet. (At least at this time. Things may change in the future but that's the future!)
    I was thinking about this last night - imagining if we all suddenly became vegetarian or vegan. What would happen to all the animals? I didn't come up with any answers, just wondered about it...
    Whilst I admire those who choose vegetarianism for environmental reasons and have considered it myself many times, it is not something I feel ready or able to do. Partly because my only reason would be in regard to not killing life and I don't feel comfortable distinguishing between different forms of life - why do plants and trees have less right to life than animals and humans for example...
    My other reason is that I enjoy supporting the organic food system in the UK. It is important to me that this method of animal rearing and meat production becomes the norm instead of the disgusting industrial/battery 'farmed' method. Perhaps, when organic becomes the norm, I'll feel able to consider vegetarianism, if I feel the need...
    Slightly off topic perhaps, apologies!

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  2. I totally agree, it would be horrible to imagine a landscape with out animals. We're based in the rolling landscape of West Dorset and it's lovely to see animals in the field and they are beneficial to our environment.

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