Students (all seniors) enrolled in AGRI 610 Beef Cattle Production and Management this past spring semester were asked to choose a topic about beef production and write a short article to share with the public about that topic. The topics could cover anything from a description of their own ranch operations to a specific aspect of beef, such as its nutritional value. These articles are also being shared with each student’s local hometown newspaper.
Mariah Beikman
A damp, rainy morning spreads smiles across the faces of cattlemen throughout the western plains of Kansas. Rain will sustain crops and pasture land for the upcoming months. Food and feed will help nourish populations, far and near. Our cattle provide valuable resources and innovative ways to use different parts of the land. Not only do they produce beef, their main commodity, they also offer a way to create a purpose for unfarmable land. Grazing and foraging in native range and pasture provide the masses with a sustainable resource, a gift that can keep giving.
Feeding livestock, specifically cattle, has been a battle for some time now. The general public has been given information to make them believe that cattle are taking food directly out of their mouths. However, this simply is not the case when cattle are involved for one very logical reason. The feedstuffs that cattle consume for nutrients differ from that of humans. Cattle are herbivores and are classified as ruminants, therefore, they are able to ingest and digest a variety of different feedstuffs. As monogastrics, humans are not able to readily consume forages grown as native range and/or pasture. According to a recent article by Jude Capper and her co-authors, the corn widely used in cattle diets is different from the variety that humans consume. Generally, humans eat sweet corn, Zea mays rugosa, whereas cattle diets are formulated using a variety of field corn that is less digestible for humans, Zea mays indenata.
“Livestock diets include a considerable quantity of crops and by-products from human food, fiber, and fuel production that are not suitable for human food use because of safety, quality, cultural, or digestibility considerations,” said Capper.
Many different factors must be taken into consideration when determining whether a crop should be used for human consumption or animal feed. The main emphasis should be put on feedstuffs that could be potentially harmful to either human or animals. Cottonseed is a great feedstuff to use in this example. According to Mary Beth De Ondarza, “The vegetable oil in cottonseed is consumed by people, but the remainder of the cottonseed contains gossypol, which is toxic for humans.”
The remainder can be repurposed and fed to animals, within moderation, to balance their diet ration. The four main ingredients in animal rations are corn, cottonseed, soybeans and wheat middlings. According to de Ondarza’s article in Hoards Dairyman, “It has been estimated that about 50 percent of corn that is processed for human food (for corn syrup, sweeteners, starch, beverage alcohol and cereals) or used for ethanol, ends up as by-product feeds such as distillers grains, corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal.
After processing wheat, about 25 percent is used as animal feed. Wheat middlings and red dog flour are commonly used by feed mills as part of dairy feeds.” These statistics support the claim that cattle are not directly taking food from human mouths. They are repurposing inedible and otherwise unusable feedstuffs to provide a healthy, wholesome beef product.
In the world today the global population is always changing, growing and advancing. Producers must find ways to sustain this growing population. According to Capper, a livestock sustainability consultant, “In 40 years the global population is predicted to contain more than 9 billion people, and demand for food, fuel and fiber will increase by 60 percent.”
These numbers are astounding from a production standpoint. Producers will be expected to increase yields without increasing the land used for growing crops or raising livestock. The sustainability and economic value of these precious resources will also have to be taken into consideration.
Focusing on global beef demands, the industry will have to address two considerations: “1) Corn fed to cattle could feed humans and 2) the quantity of land used for grazing would be far more effectively used to produce grains or vegetables for human consumption” (Capper). Feeding corn to humans that could be fed to cattle will have a small effect on global food supply. The idea that cattle are using corn that humans could consume is true, to an extent, but swine and poultry diets require a higher percentage of human-edible inputs of corn and soybeans to meet nutritional requirements of the species, according to Capper.
The majority of land that is used for grazing would most likely be considered un-farmable land. Cattle are excellent at turning inedible forages into a nutritious, wholesome food source.
Global demands for food will continue to rise. The average farmer will have to increase production to feed this growing population, while only using the land they have today. The efficiency of cattle to turn inedible human by-products and forages into a consumable beef product is simply incredible. Without beef cattle, there would be an abundant amount of land that would otherwise be useless. Cattle are the key to sustaining a growing global population as we move towards the future.
Mariah Beikman, a 2015 St. Francis High School graduate, is a senior majoring in animal science and chemistry at Fort Hays State University. She is the daughter of Andy and Mary Beikman, St. Francis.