Feedlots: The Uncensored Truth — Part I
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“Absolutely no one cares more about that animal’s health than the feeder.”
— John Purviance, aka “Dad”
Some of you reading this article may not know much about feedlots (often referred to as “feed yards”) and that’s totally fine — there’s not too many commercials out there talking about the magical world of fattening up cattle. However, within this column and the next, I will be shedding light on the world of feedlots, feeders (the people who feed cattle in feedlots), fed cattle (cattle in a feedlot), the history of feedlots, as well as their purpose.
First and foremost, let’s get the definitions and statistics out of the way.
“A feedlot, or feedyard, is the final stage of cattle production with a focus on feeding steers and heifers in a confined area a ration of grain, silage, hay, and/or protein supplement for the slaughter market that are expected to produce a carcass that will grade select or better,” the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) states.
According to encyclopedia.com, feedlots were first introduced in California in the 1940’s. Since then, many feedlots have migrated to the Midwest to be closer to grain supplies. About half of the beef produced in the U.S. is raised in feedlots.
Another sentiment I found interesting in the encyclopedia read: “Animal rights groups actively campaign against confining animals in feedlots, a practice they consider inhumane, wasteful, and highly polluting.”
Personally, I see posts about the “evils” of feedlots regularly in my anti-animal agriculture Facebook groups, so this statement in the encyclopedia came as no shock to me.
Here is an example of some of the posts I’ve seen. I picked to show you this one because it pretty much covers everything other posts I’ve seen have said.
These people, like many anti-ags, jumped on the “agriculture is bad for the environment” train a few years back when they realized the “eating meat is unethical” approach didn’t work on many consumers. They claim that feedlots are a breeding ground for greenhouse gas emissions, and that by consuming cattle raised in feedlots, carnivorous humans are the problem.
Once again, I will play my broken record titled, “Agriculture isn’t destroying the planet — agriculture is feeding it,” and cite the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (seriously I feel like I’ve said this all a million and one times).
Nearly 10 percent of all 2018 Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States can be attributed to agriculture as a whole. These emissions primarily come from livestock such as cows, agricultural soils, and rice production.
The EPA’s website states, “Livestock, especially ruminants such as cattle, produce methane (CH4) as part of their normal digestive processes. This process is called enteric fermentation, and it represents over a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture economic sector.”
The website continues to its next bullet point about livestock, stating, “The way in which manure from livestock is managed also contributes to CH4 and N2O emissions. Different manure treatment and storage methods affect how much of these greenhouse gases are produced. Manure management accounts for about 12 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the Agriculture economic sector in the United States.”
Now that we’ve gotten the statistics and facts (facts stated by an unbiased, government funded organization, I might add) out of the way, let’s talk a little bit about logic and economics.
Logically speaking, feedlots are more sustainable for the environment than finishing cattle on pasture. I know, this sounds far-fetched, and I’m not throwing any shade to my grass-fed guys but hear me out.
In a feedlot, a large amount of cattle are placed in pens. I’ve been to a few feedlots and seen some pens that are the size of a high-school gymnasium and some that are the size of ten football fields. The amount of cattle in these specific pens are based on the size. Obviously, you’ll have less cattle in the smaller pens and more cattle in the larger pens.
I know in past columns, I’ve talked about “stocking rate,” which is basically the amount of pasture acreage needed for grazing per head of cattle. However, cattle are not sent to feedlots to graze — they’re sent to feedlots to eat a feed ration mainly made up of grains. In doing so, the feeder eliminates the need for large acreage.
So, if we have more cattle covering less land, wouldn’t it make sense that feedlots are sustainable?
Another thing we need to think about logically is the claim that fed cattle are “neglected” and “unhealthy.” Let’s just put a pin in the humanity factor of animal health and discuss the bottom line.
Economically (and logically) speaking, why WOULDN’T the feeder want — no, NEED — healthy cattle in their feedlot?
If a steer is unhealthy, not properly cared for, and/or stressed due to an unhealthy environment or confined to “too small” of a pen, he will either a.) die or b.) be unfit for finishing, ultimately ending in money lost on said steer AND a bad reputation for the feeder and their feedlot.
If feeders do not properly care for their workspace, their cattle, or the feed they give their cattle, they put their livelihood in danger — why would anyone spending this much time (365 days a year, 24 hours a day) and money into caring for an animal unless they truly cared for their health?
My final point is this: we cannot feed the world without feedlots.
Nearly 7.8 billion people currently live on this earth — that’s 7.8 billion mouths to feed. How on earth could we feed that many people without agricultural practices like the feedlot model? If you’ve got a better idea than raising an abundance of cattle in as little space as possible while strategically feeding them a mixture of grains to get them to a successful finishing weight, please enlighten me.
Next week, I’ll be touching more on this subject with comments from Maylene Frost of Centana Feeders in Edgar, Montana. Maylene shared more information with me about day-to-day operations at a feedlot, as well as offered comments in response to anti-ag activists who claim feedlots are unethical and bad for the environment.
