Cows & Carbon Emissions: Can Livestock Farming be Sustainable? (A Review of the Arguments)

Cows & Carbon Emissions:

Is Livestock farming really bad for the environment? How have Cows found themselves in the crosshairs of the Environmentalists? How do the different Farming methods impact upon the environment? Can the idea of livestock farming become a sacred cow (beyond reproach) in the mind of advocates and detractors alike?  

It is undeniable that factory farming is harmful to the environment and to the welfare of the animals. The environmental impacts manifest themselves through intensive water use; livestock’s waste polluting surrounding water courses; methane emissions; and promoting monocrop agriculture (MCA) to feed livestock an unnatural diet of grains, corn & soy.

This MCA model is responsible for destroying soil fertility and leads to the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides to compensate. It should be pointed out that a significant portion of MCA is used to make highly processed plant-based foods which are not healthy or good for the environment.

From a welfare perspective, cattle for example have anatomically evolved to consume grass, not grain. Unnatural grains, often derived from soy and corn, can lead to suboptimal health outcomes and animal stress. This is compounded by commonly crammed & unsanitary living conditions.

To counteract this, antibiotics are often used which are leading to antibiotic resistant bacteria & potential public health risk. Hormones to maximise growth are also commonplace outside the UK.

However….

Do these factors translate when applied to pasture raised cattle consuming a natural diet of grasses, herbs, flowers & other plant foliage? Ruminants such as cattle, buffalo, bison, sheep, deer & antelope the world over have been grazing for millennia and actually co-evolved with grasslands.

For a start, switching livestock to a grass-fed diet minimises the overall reliance on MCA. This reduces topsoil erosion because in the place of MCA, grasses and other natural foliage grow which protections the topsoil from erosion from the elements.

This subsequently reduces the reliance on synthesized fertiliser & pesticide use which are harmful to flora & fauna. Natural water sources are often accessible too which minimises farms water use.

Free roaming livestock promote plant diversity & growth by consuming tall grasses to allow sunshine to reach vegetation which would otherwise face stunted growth by being covered in shade. Cattle in particular will trample grassland, having a similar plant growth promoting affect all while their waste nourishes the landscape & reduces the need for synthesized fertilisers.

Keeping the grasses short also allows insect hunters easier access to their prey which encourage species diversity and reduces the need for pesticides. Essentially, free range farming more closely mimics nature and enables it to run its course.

Grazing cattle can actually net reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere in a process known as carbon sequestering when raised on pasture. Our grasslands sequester ~30% of earth’s carbon pool. Through photosynthesis, plants extract carbon from the atmosphere and when the land is healthy, it absorbs the carbon & stores it.

Well-managed cattle’s grazing extracts the carbon stored in the plants and effectively recycles it with their waste containing nutrients that the soils need to encourage the growth of fungi, microbes & bacteria necessary to be healthy & sequester carbon which encourages plant growth & diversity.

This in turn, extracts more carbon from the atmosphere during photosynthesis with oxygen produced as a by-product. When grazing, cattle will then effectively recycle the carbon & the cycle continues. Well-managed includes pasture rotation to avoid overgrazing.

Grass-fed cattle ‘s have higher welfare standards present as they are exposed to sunshine and open fresh air conditions with their lifestyle closer aligned to the way nature intended it. This natural grazing leads to the consumption of a far superior diet in terms of vitamins and minerals.

They have more space and interesting surroundings. All this combines to having a much-improved quality of life. Grass-fed beef is also considered healthier too with a superior omega profile.

All this combines to provide a compelling argument to, where you can, support farms & businesses doing things right.

If you’d like to read more, the below link will take you onto our other blogs.

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