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lupinfarm
Almost Self-Reliant
lol Well i imagine its to do with ground water and their poop... but i could be wrong!freemotion said:
Hobby-type meat cows...
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freemotion
Food Guru
Only when grossly mismanaged, otherwise, a few cows will improve the land and the environment. Read Salatin! I wish I had a cow. Maybe one day. I love my goats, though. I am feeling the urge for another doeling.....potato chips! Problem with goats is, they are so affordable and cheap to feed, it is easy to justify one more.....and one more.....and......
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lupinfarm
Almost Self-Reliant
Haha... we can't for the life of us find any affordable goats around here..We're going to be looking for some milking goats next spring but are finding that a very difficult thing! We'll probably fork out for a registered nubian or two, who knows!freemotion said:
Mackay
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Well, my understanding of it, which is limited, is that cattle require lots of feed that takes water (in keeping pastures green) and chemicals to fertilize, gasoline for shipment feed and then the cattle also expel a lot of methane gas into the atmosphere. If you grass feed your cattle on your own property the ecological problem would be diminished I assume but when you start adding grain products that are produced elsewhere, and the production involved in making that and then it is all shipped in, then it starts to get worse again.freemotion said:
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Yes, when fed cultivated grains, it does lead to some environmental impact situations.
They have found that it takes approx. 1 acre of corn to feed 1 cow. They have also found, with rotational, intensive grazing, that the cow could be fed on the grass of that same acre....but without all the expensive, gas-guzzling machinery, the plowing of the soil that releases carbon into the atmosphere, the erosion of the soil and the runoff from the fertilizer applied to the soil for the cultivation of the corn and the nitrogen depletion from planting a nitrogen-hungry crop like corn.
A backyard cow that is fed grass and hay actually improves the soil and grasses, encourages thicker growth of ground cover and, through pugging, releases valuable nutrients into the soil with every step.
Its all in how you do it!
They have found that it takes approx. 1 acre of corn to feed 1 cow. They have also found, with rotational, intensive grazing, that the cow could be fed on the grass of that same acre....but without all the expensive, gas-guzzling machinery, the plowing of the soil that releases carbon into the atmosphere, the erosion of the soil and the runoff from the fertilizer applied to the soil for the cultivation of the corn and the nitrogen depletion from planting a nitrogen-hungry crop like corn.
A backyard cow that is fed grass and hay actually improves the soil and grasses, encourages thicker growth of ground cover and, through pugging, releases valuable nutrients into the soil with every step.
Its all in how you do it!
FarmerChick
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In mass quantity any animal is an ecological disaster. To feed the world, at least the people that "don't do it themselves" it has to be a factor definitely.Mackay said:
A small herd of cows managed properly yourself is less impact then feedlot cows...but the world is huge, and so many could never produce their own cattle.........
In this day and time, it is not about "how you do it" anymore. Too many need to be fed in a small amt. of space truly.
Agricultrual practices do need to change definitely. When, who knows.....and is it too little, too late!
