What Livestock Eat
Are Farm Animals Stealing Our Grub?
Almost every single one of my arguments seems to rest on one single question: What do livestock animals eat?
I have said that more animals die in crop production than in slaughterhouses, and have followed this up by saying that very little of what livestock animals eat is fully-produced crops, so the deaths in crop production should not be added to the death toll of meat (consider this a shameless plug for an upcoming series!). I have said that extra land (including land cleared), fuel, greenhouse gas emissions, and water usage from “feed crops” should not be added on to animal products’ environmental toll because livestock rarely eat actual crops. |
However, I feel that I have only been making reference to this question, never really sitting down to speak to it directly. I want to do just that now, and put this myth to bed.
The mockumentary, Cowspiracy, popularized the idea that 50% of all crops (although some people would claim this number is closer to 90%) produced are fed to livestock. This is simply not the case. Contrary to popular belief, almost every beef animal raised for meat is fed a pre-dominantly grass-based diet, then finished with grain near the end of their life. Throughout their life, they will have constant access to hay, which is a very popular growing option for farmers working on land that cannot sustain other types of crops.
Hay is nothing more than grass that has been laid out to dry, then packaged in “bales” for ruminant livestock. Along with the cultivation of forages, hay production is a low-input process compared to mainstream crops, and are often grown in no-till systems.
But what’s in the grain that cattle eat in feedlots and swine and poultry typically eat throughout their entire lives? Is it really massive amounts of grain crops that we would be better off making available to human consumers? Definitely not! Let’s look at the most common livestock grain ingredients:
Molasses is a major component of grain amongst almost every livestock species. Aside from being consumed minimally as a novelty side dipping in a few southern states, molasses has no real purpose to humans other than being food for our food. However, even if we had no purpose for this super sweet juice, it would still be produced because it’s actually a byproduct of sugar crystallization. Molasses is created whether we are making sugar from sugar beets or sugar canes.
The mockumentary, Cowspiracy, popularized the idea that 50% of all crops (although some people would claim this number is closer to 90%) produced are fed to livestock. This is simply not the case. Contrary to popular belief, almost every beef animal raised for meat is fed a pre-dominantly grass-based diet, then finished with grain near the end of their life. Throughout their life, they will have constant access to hay, which is a very popular growing option for farmers working on land that cannot sustain other types of crops.
Hay is nothing more than grass that has been laid out to dry, then packaged in “bales” for ruminant livestock. Along with the cultivation of forages, hay production is a low-input process compared to mainstream crops, and are often grown in no-till systems.
But what’s in the grain that cattle eat in feedlots and swine and poultry typically eat throughout their entire lives? Is it really massive amounts of grain crops that we would be better off making available to human consumers? Definitely not! Let’s look at the most common livestock grain ingredients:
Molasses is a major component of grain amongst almost every livestock species. Aside from being consumed minimally as a novelty side dipping in a few southern states, molasses has no real purpose to humans other than being food for our food. However, even if we had no purpose for this super sweet juice, it would still be produced because it’s actually a byproduct of sugar crystallization. Molasses is created whether we are making sugar from sugar beets or sugar canes.
Many byproducts of cotton production, including cottonseed, cottonseed oil, and cottonseed meal, are used extensively as livestock grain ingredients. Before cottonseed was used to feed farm animals, farmers did not know of any use for the surplus of seeds after their next crop was planted. For this reason, every year, thousands of tons of cottonseed would be burned, releasing unfathomable amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, or thrown into rivers, intoxicating fish and clogging waterways. Today, it is common practice to crush the surplus cottonseed to create both a dry, cakey material, called cottonseed meal, and release the cottonseed oil that can be found inside the seeds. This little bit of extra processing turns a major pollutant into a cheap, yet high-energy livestock grain ingredient.
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Similarly, soybean meal is a byproduct of the extraction of soybean oil. Soybean oil is an incredibly important asset to American consumers. 55% of vegetable oil sold is made from soybean oil, along with almost every margarine and shortening. Other products that contain soybean oil include mayonnaise, salad dressings, and preservatives. Soybean oil also has an important role in the production of biofuels. This means that humans are producing massive amounts of soybean oil, and thus the soybean meal that we have no better use for. Soybean meal represents two-thirds of the protein in livestock grain around the world.
But wait… there’s another use for soybean oil that brings a smile to my face! Almost every single plant-based replacement of dairy or meat relies on soybean oil for its nutrients and substance. Yes, especially tofu! That means the growing demand for vegan products is driving down the cost of an all-important grain ingredient (soybean meal) for livestock raisers.
The term “screenings” refers to the lump sum of the byproducts of cleaning many different types of crops. Sometimes, the factories that process crops from the farm into human-edible food will literally sweep the floors after processing, and collect that into a pile of screenings. Screenings from oats, corn, peas, lentils, etc. are some of the most common livestock grain ingredients.
These are just a few examples of the processing that is necessary for the production of human food creating byproducts that are not edible by humans but can be made into palatable nutrients if fed to farm animals.
I am not going to claim that no human-consumable food is set aside for livestock because that would not be true. Forage-wise, corn silage is exactly like the corn that we buy at the grocery store, but was separated out after harvest but before processing and placed into a silo to undergo anaerobic fermentation, creating a very energy-efficient feed used extensively by many dairies, and minimally in beef production.
But wait… there’s another use for soybean oil that brings a smile to my face! Almost every single plant-based replacement of dairy or meat relies on soybean oil for its nutrients and substance. Yes, especially tofu! That means the growing demand for vegan products is driving down the cost of an all-important grain ingredient (soybean meal) for livestock raisers.
The term “screenings” refers to the lump sum of the byproducts of cleaning many different types of crops. Sometimes, the factories that process crops from the farm into human-edible food will literally sweep the floors after processing, and collect that into a pile of screenings. Screenings from oats, corn, peas, lentils, etc. are some of the most common livestock grain ingredients.
These are just a few examples of the processing that is necessary for the production of human food creating byproducts that are not edible by humans but can be made into palatable nutrients if fed to farm animals.
I am not going to claim that no human-consumable food is set aside for livestock because that would not be true. Forage-wise, corn silage is exactly like the corn that we buy at the grocery store, but was separated out after harvest but before processing and placed into a silo to undergo anaerobic fermentation, creating a very energy-efficient feed used extensively by many dairies, and minimally in beef production.
Some producers do feed grains heavy in human-edible foods, and I can understand the hesitation to adopt products from these animals. Flax, barley, and oats are three fully-produced crops that might be used by a feed mill. However, just like human foods, livestock grains list most of their feed ingredients on the bag (a few might be left out because mills don’t want to divulge their recipes or because of fluctuations in market prices), and some time researching what feeds companies use can insure that your meat, milk, and eggs were produced using the methods you approve of.
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But these human-edible, fully produced crops represent very little of livestock feed. The reality is that well over 90% of the ingredients in the grain that’s fed to the livestock that are behind the animal products you’d find at a grocery store are byproducts like the ones I’ve described, and have no better use by man. Time and time again, we see animals making usable calories out of products that would otherwise become waste, leading to environmental hazards.
With so many people already hungry and the world population quickly rising, we have to be truthful to consumers. We have to explain to them that the combination of crop production, the processing of crops for human foods that creates byproducts only edible by livestock, and the production of those livestock, is the system that puts the most amount of food on our table, and causes the least amount of harm, both to the animals and to the environment, while doing it.
With so many people already hungry and the world population quickly rising, we have to be truthful to consumers. We have to explain to them that the combination of crop production, the processing of crops for human foods that creates byproducts only edible by livestock, and the production of those livestock, is the system that puts the most amount of food on our table, and causes the least amount of harm, both to the animals and to the environment, while doing it.