CALF_News_Feb_March_2019

24 CALF News • February | March 2019 • www.calfnews.net By Lisa Bard Contributing Editor 8 % 18 % of Beef Farms and Ranches are Family Owned OTHER % 9 % Typical U.S. Cattle Lifecycle Cow-calf DIET WHAT’S SUSTAINABILITY? Producing safe, nutritious beef while balancing environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic viability. Improved e ciency and animal well-being mean a 16% lower carbon footprint and fewer natural resources used for every pound of beef produced. 6 - 10 Months Grass Other Human- inedible Plants DURATION 1977 NOW Stocker/backgrounder 2 - 6 Months DIET Finishing Grain Other Human- inedible Plants Mostly Grass Other Human- inedible Plants DURATION 4 - 6 Mos. Grain -Or - 6 - 10 Mos. Grass DURATION How’d they do it? Compared to 1977, today’s beef farmers and ranchers produce the same amount of beef with 33% fewer cattle. Better Animal Health & Welfare Better Animal Genetics Better Animal Nutrition of U.S. Farms and Ranches Own Beef Cattle Same Beef, Fewer Cattle 33 % Fewer Cattle DIET More with Less U.S. farmers and ranchers produce 18% of the world’s beef with only 8% of the world’s cattle. Fewer Cattle, Less Emissions U.S. beef has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world, 10 to 50 times lower than some nations. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cattle only account for 2% of U.S. GHG emissions. 2.0% BEEF LANDFILL TRANSPORTATION ELECTRICITY OTHER SOURCES 2.2% 25.3% 29.7% 40.9% BEEF SUSTAINABILITY FACTS C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Sustainability_FactSheet_Ver3.pdf 1 4/27/18 10:33 AM CONSIDERING SUSTAINABILITY from a Global Perspective Sustainability is about balancing multiple economic, social, and environmental issues at once, while recognizing tradeo s. The Stomach for the Job Cattle Upcycling Super-power Going Against the Grain Corn Fed to Cattle = Sustainability is Bigger Than Carbon Footprints Cattle have 4 stomach compart- ments, and the largest is the rumen, which is why cattle are referred to as ruminant animals. 3 2 4 RUMEN 1 3 2 4 RUMEN 1 It is naturally filled with trillions of microbes that can break down human-inedible plants. The rumen microbes give cattle their upcycling super-power – cattle upgrade plants of little to no nutritional value to people to high-quality protein, micronutrients, and other important products. Whether grass- or grain-finished, most of what cattle eat in their life is grass, and less than 10% of the lifetime feed of grain-finished cattle is grain. Relative di erences in carbon footprints between animal vs. plant foods don’t add up to significant GHG- emissions di erences at the national level. Grain-finished beef cattle provide 19% more human-edible protein than they consume. Energy From the Sun Human- Inedible Plants High-quality Protein, Leather & Other Products 10 % GRAIN FEED PROTEIN 90 % FORAGE & PLANT LEFTOVERS A cow’s stomach can be 40 to 50 gallons in volume That’s the size of your bath tub! Upcycle Lifetime Diet for Grain-Finished Cattle 1 lb. BEEF PROTEIN 1.19 lb. UPCYCLE EQUALS 2 % of U.S. cropland acres 0.3 % of total U.S. land area ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT SOCIAL Reference list for Quick Facts on Beef Sustainability: Broocks,A. et al.;Doesgrass-finishedbeef leave a lower carbon footprint thangrain-finishedbeef?Available: beefresearch.org/beefsustainability.aspx (ToughQuestion#6) Capper,2011. J.AnimalSci.89:4249-4261. CAST,1999.Animal agriculture andglobal food supply.Task force reportNo.135 July1999. Herrero et al.,2013.Proc.Natl.Aca.Sci.110:20888-20893. NASEM,2016.NutrientRequ.ofBeefCattle.8th revised ed.DOI :https://doi.org/10.17226/19014 USDA2012AgCensus.Available at :https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/#full_report USDA-ARSNutrientDatabase,SR28,NDB#13364, available at :https://www.ars.usda.gov/nea/bhnrc/ndl USDA-ERS,2018.MajorLandUses.Available at :https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/major-land-uses.aspx USDA-NASSQuickStatsTools.Available at :https://www.nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/ USEPA InventoryofU.S.GreenhouseGasEmissions andSinks:1990-2014.Available at: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-04/d ocuments/us-ghg-inventory-2016 -main-text.pdf UNFAOSTATdatabase.Available at :http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home White andHall,2017.Proc.Natl.Aca.Sci.114:E10301-E10308. % 7-9 of U.S. corn production which covers approximately 6.5 million acres Beef Cattle eat For example, what would be the consequences if every American went vegan? One 3-ounce cooked serving of a composite, trimmed, retail beef cut contributes less than 10% of calories to a 2000-calorie diet, yet it supplies more than 10% of the Daily Value for 10 essential nutrients including protein, iron, zinc and many B vitamins. U.S. GHG emissions 2.6% lower Insufficient nutrients to feed the U.S. population Increased use of synthetic fertilizer Increased soil erosion Beef is a Nutrient-rich Food Funded by Beef Farmers and Ranchers BEEF SUSTAINABILITY FACTS C M Y CM MY CY CMY K Sustainability_FactSheet_Ver3.pdf 2 4/27/18 10:33 AM No matter how you look at “where from here” these days, the question of sustaining the cattle industry usually comes into the picture, particularly if you look at it from a global perspective. I’m a big-picture ranch gal with a range science, environmental adaptability and systems background, so global it is. While the popular phrase “Feeding the 9” and words like sustainability can cause heartburn in some folks, when you look beyond the spin, the reality is stark. We simply must do more with less, and in order to feed 9 billion people by 2050 under an increasingly intense consumer microscope, coupled with mounting environmental and social changes, we must be – and prove to be – sustainable. 