Environmental impacts of raising cattle

DEFINITION: Large domesticated mammals raised as livestock and as dairy animals

The environmental impacts of the raising of cattle include the production of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, land degradation owing to increased erosion and overgrazing, and pollution of air and water caused by concentrated waste. These problems most often arise from the nature of the farming practices of cattle ranchers, and they can be alleviated somewhat by changes in management techniques.

The collective species Bos primigenius includes three subspecies: Bos primigenius taurus, the European cattle; Bos primigenius indicus, the zebu; and the extinct Bos primigenius primigenius, the ancestor to modern domestic cattle and also called the auroch. The term “cattle” is usually used to refer to domesticated B. primigenius that are bred for multiple uses, spanning the production of food to clothing to fuel, and also to serve as work animals. Cattle are chief sources of food (from meat and milk), labor, clothing (from leather), and fuel (from dung) in many cultures worldwide.

According to a 2023 article in Scientific American, the world’s 940 milion cows are the single source of methane, a gas that causes global warming and climate change. Cattle are responsible for nearly 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, mostly through dung and belching. The potential for those who raise livestock to contribute to solving these environmental problems is thus very large, and experts argue that major improvements can be achieved at reasonable costs.

The grazing of livestock occupies almost 30 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface, and the agricultural production of feed for livestock takes up about one-third of all arable land. In addition to affecting land that has already been converted to agriculture, the raising of cattle is responsible for the direct acceleration of deforestation in some parts of the world where ranchers burn forests to expand grazing land. This is a pressing problem in Latin America, where nearly 70 percent of previously forested land is used as pasture and much of the rest is used for growing livestock feed crops such as soybeans and corn. Tropical soils are especially susceptible to degradation by overgrazing, compaction, and because of high precipitation and low loads. Ranching is thus usually not a sustainable practice in the Tropics, but it continues because it promises quick economic returns.

Concentratedanimal feeding operations (CAFOs), in which livestock are fed in small confined areas for maximum profit, produce great amounts of highly concentrated that ultimately ends up in the water and as gases in the air. FAO has estimated that livestock manure is the largest sectoral source of water pollutants. In addition to manure, chemicals from pesticides and fertilizers used for feed crops and antibiotics administered to livestock also end up in and surface water, where they contribute to high nutrient loading and algal blooms, medicinal that affects aquatic biology, and high sediment loads that reduce water quality.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Cattle produce methane through an process in the gut called methanogenesis; the methane is released through belching and flatulence. Methane is an extremely effective greenhouse gas, having a warming effect 23 to 50 times greater than carbon dioxide; this causes concern as there are approximately 1.3 billion cattle worldwide, and the number only grows. With increasing prosperity worldwide, people consume more meat and dairy products every year; the global production of both meat and dairy is expected to double by 2050.

A number of possible ways of reducing methane production in cattle have been proposed or are under study. These include the administration of bovine medicines similar to the antacid Alka-Seltzer, the use of new varieties of feed grasses, and targeted breeding that selects for less gassy cattle. Any successes in this area will certainly be helpful, but scientists note that a global reduction in numbers of domestic cattle must also accompany these techniques if cattle’s large-scale production of methane is to be effectively reduced.

Environmental Solutions

Humans certainly need not stop raising cattle entirely in order to ensure a healthy future for the environment, but some practices must change. Sustainable cattle ranching requires restoration of overgrazed and damaged land through soil conservation, the planting of trees, and protection of areas sensitive to erosion. Changing the ways cattle are fed to better reflect a natural diet can go a long way toward curbing emissions. In addition, it has been argued that moving away from CAFOs to less intense feed operations can have positive effects on the cows, their environment, and the quality of all products that come from the cows. Increased use of processed manure as fertilizer can reduce waste pollution and reclaims a resource that should be valued and used instead of dumped into the water supply.

Many cattle ranchers and dairy farmers have become dedicated to reducing the negative environmental impacts of raising cattle because for them the advantages of sustainable management systems outweigh the pressures for higher profit. Persons living in subsistence communities often have little choice in how they raise cattle, however—they clear land and overgraze because they will starve otherwise. It has been proposed that developed nations should provide incentives to poorer countries to ensure that practicing to create pastureland is not the only option the people have for income.

Another solution to the negative environmental impacts of cattle raising that is sometimes proposed, primarily by animal rights and environmental conservation groups, is vegetarianism. According to Scientific American, in 2021, Americans consumed 20 billion pounds of beef. If humans were to limit their beef consumption, this would certainly reduce demand and therefore reduce the number of cattle worldwide that are overgrazing, belching methane, and compacting soil. As critics of this approach have noted, however, expecting large numbers of people to change their diets radically is unrealistic. This is especially true in the United States, where the culture of beef eating is quite strong. For this reason, many environmentalists, scientists, and others have increasingly suggested that people could help reduce the negative environmental impacts of cattle raising simply by reducing the amount of beef in their diets.

Bibliography

Baceninaite, Doville, Karina Dzermeikaite, and Ramunas Antanaitis. "Global Warming and Dairy Cattle: How to Control and Reduce Methane Emission." Animals, vol. 12, no. 9, 6 Oct. 2022, p. 2687, doi.org/10.3390%2Fani12192687. Accessed 15 July 2024.

Clutton-Brock, Juliet. A Natural History of Domesticated Mammals. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Nitta, Naoki. "Quitting Cows Could Have Big Environmental Impacts, But It's Harder Than It Sounds." Scientific American, 7 Nov. 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/quitting-cows-could-have-big-environmental-impacts-but-its-harder-than-it-sounds/. Accessed 15 July 2024.

Soliva, Carla Riccarda, Junichi Takahashi, and Michael Kreuzer, eds. Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture. Boston: Elsevier, 2006.

Steinfeld, Henning, et al. Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options. Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 2006.