5.7

• CAFOs/feedlots: densely crowded method where animals are fed grain(corn) to raise them as quickly as possible

  • Maximizes land use and profit (most meant production per/unit of area)
  • Minimizes cost of meat for consumers
  • Given antibiotics & growth hormones to prevent disease outbreak and speed meat production
  • Animals produce large amounts of animal waste which can contaminate nearby surface/groundwater
  • Produces large amounts of CO2, CH4, and N2)
• Manure lagoons: large open storage pits for animal waste

  • waste contains ammonia, hormones, antibiotics, e. coli
  • endocrine disruptions
  • Heavy rain can flood lagoons and contaminate nearby surface and ground water with runoff
  • Can be emptied and buried in landfills or turned into fertilizer pellets
• Free-range grazing:

  • Animals graze on grass & grow at a natural rate without growth hormones
  • no need for antibiotics because of dispersed population
  • doesn't require production of corn to feed animals
  • waste is dispersed over land naturally, acting as fertilizer instead of building up in lagoons
  • Requires more total land use/pound of meat produced
  • more expensive to consumer
  • Animals can graze on land too dry for most crop growth
• Overgrazing: too many animals grazing an area of land can remove vegetation which leads to topsoil erosion
• Grazing animals can compact soil, decreasing H2O holding capacity, leads to more erosion
• Desertification can occur if plants are killed by overgrazing and soil is severely compacted
• Rotational grazing: moving animals periodically can prevent overgrazing

  • Can also increase growth of grass by distributing manure and clipping grass back to size where growth is most rapid
• Inefficiency of meat:

  • Producing meat for humans to eat is much less efficient than producing plants in terms of energy, land, and water use