Discuss the role of grazing in a pasture-livestock system.

[Mindful]

Anyone having a pet, whether cat, dog, fish, or bird, knows how expensive that small, household animals can be. Feeding pets is the main cost. Of course, livestock are much larger and the feeding costs much higher. Pastures are a wonderful resource to farmers and ranchers for feeding livestock and pastures can be even more worthwhile with proper management. The benefits of grazing on animal health are many. Having animals on pasture will improve reproduction because the livestock socialize naturally with less competition, reduce infectious diseases because the livestock are dispersed, provide exercise, and reduce foot problems because pasture is more comfortable than stalls.

Much of the earth's surface contains grasses but much of that land is poorly managed. America has historically "land rich" and we have not had to carefully manage each acre to survive. Countries much smaller, such as New Zealand or Ireland, have had to learn to nurture their land resources. Farmers and ranchers in those countries are "land poor" but "knowledge rich." It would be wise for the US to learn how to best utilize our grasslands because as the population increases we will no longer be "land rich". The best step to better land management is a basic understanding of grazing.


Discuss the role of grazing in a pasture-livestock system.

 

[JoeMoma]

 

[Mousterian]

The beef industry will be gone very soon.
It takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce 1lb of beef.
The aquifers in the West are rapidly declining, and droughts are on the increase, in both severity and frequency.
We'll be eating crickets, or faux-beef from Monsanto et al, if we have anything to eat at all...