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Environment Environmentally Friendly Production For thousands of years cattle have lived their lives eating little other than grass. This changed shortly after World War II when modern farmers began raising more corn. Grazing the land goes back to the days when the Midwest was nothing but prairies. Growing cattle the natural way saves the earth's limited supply of fuel. Solar energy is used to grow grass, while raising grain involves heavy equipment that burns large amounts of fuel. It takes as much as ten times more fuel oil to raise cattle on grain than on grass. Feedlots can also pollute the environment because of the large amount of manure concentrated in one area. In grass farming, the cattle waste is spread out over a large area and provides natural fertilizer for the grass. Feedlots, however, produce a large amount of manure in a small area, which has to be carefully handled in order to not create waste problems. Global Warming and Grass Feeding A report by the USDA contains this quote: "Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases may be increasing in the earth's atmosphere and changing the earth's climate. The grasses, legumes, and shrubs on grazing lands remove carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis and store it in the soil when roots die and decompose. Grazing land soils in the Great Plains contain over 40 tons of carbon per acre, while cultivated soils contain only about 26, on average." Raising cattle on grass instead of grain could reduce global warming! |