Cooking Schools Guide: Livestock Resources
It may be easy to take the meat and dairy sections of the supermarket for granted. The trays are always stocked. What more is there to wonder about? The logistics of raising and bringing those products to market is multifaceted and as such can be impacted by multiple factors. And those issues begin to affect not just the meat and dairy section, when one stops to consider the widespread use of animal products.
American Livestock
Given that livestock refers to the animals which are raised by a farm with the goal of selling the products of said animals, the range of what qualifies as livestock is fairly large. The United State Department of Agriculture designates twenty categories for the types of livestock which can potentially be raised on a farm, ranging from cows and sheep and pigs to poultry and other fowl and fish and bees, to name a few examples.
Farms are granted different classifications depending on the number of animals which they raise, the size of the operation, how the livestock animals are situated, and the total production value of the farm’s assets. Though the commercial farm has gained prominence in the public’s perception of livestock farming, the majority of running farms continue to be smaller operations.
Many sectors of the livestock industry saw a rebound in their production in 2010 in constrast with their performance the previous year. The Retail Equivalent Value of the beef industry in the United States reached 74 billion USD in 2010 and part of this may be attributed to the heavy beef slaughter which occurred during the year.
Issues Impacting the Livestock Industry
Government surveys and trajectories slate the livestock industry’s performance to increase in during 2011. However, there are some forecasts for the industry which are more uncertain. Increased activity in the commodities markets have caused an upward drive in the prices for basics such as wheat and corn – feed for livestock – and gasoline – fuel for farm equipment and product distribution. As a result, the increase in the cost of productivity has been passed on to the consumer, a seven percent increase in livestock products over the period from June 2010 to June 2011.
Recent long-term droughts have had a considerable impact in regions where livestock are raised, including much of the southern portion of the United States’ mid-section, including portions of the Southwest and the Southeast.
The protective measures taken to protect species such as wolves and other predatory species often come into conflict with the livestock raisers’ need to protect their animals. Government officials and farmers continue to attempt methods of mediating the effect wild animals have on the farmers’ ability to raise and sell their livestock with a minimal impact on the total population of the wild animal involved. Though this issue is primarily thought of as a land-based problem, farmers who raise fish also face a similar problem from predatory seabirds.
Farmers raising bees have had to work with the presence in recent years of Colony Collapse Disorder, which has caused a significant decrease in the number of viable honeybee colonies. Honeybees’ role as pollinators plays an important part in many agricultural operations and the bees’ value toward that end is valued around 15 billion USD.
Recent Human Health Issues
Livestock production, with its production of animal waste and the gathering of many members of a species together can create the potential for negative human impact. The use of nitrates to fertilize feed and their natural occurrence in the waste products of farm animals has lead to an increase of such compounds in the soil surrounding livestock farms. Consumption of nitrates at an increased level has been shown to cause sickness in infants and the interaction of concentrated nitrates also causes polluted water supplies to produce ammonia.
Concerns have been raised as well about the various drugs and additives which are given to animals and which may also have a negative impact on the people who eat or drink animal products. As farmers have further developed the practice of introducing antibiotics into the feed of their livestock, concern has been raised about the impact such actions will have in creating bacterial strains which will be resistant to antibiotic treatment in humans. Product safety concerns have been raised in regards to the drug 3-Nitro (Roxarsone) which was found to increase the levels of arsenic in test chickens. The use of Bovine Somatotropin (BST) and recombinant BST (r-BST) and steroids in raising livestock caused some consumers to decry its use, sensitive to the impact it may have in the human development process, particularly for growing children.
Two strains of the influenza virus – H5N1 and H1N1, also known as Avian Flu and Swine Flu, respectively – gained media attention during the initial onset of their outbreaks due to their ability to be transmitted from animals to people. Another pathogen which is transmitted from animals to humans, Escherichia coli (E. coli), has also often created public concern during outbreaks. Scientists’ understanding of the pathogen’s workings has allowed them to develop better systems of treating animals and people to prevent unnecessary sickness on the scales previously seen.
Healthy Use of Livestock
Livestock can be raised to with the implementation of farming practices, which prevent detrimental environmental impacts. Proper irrigation technique and waste management ensure that harmful chemicals and bacteria do not affect the health of the human and environmental systems surrounding the active farm.
As scientists have also sought out alternative forms of energy production away from fossil fuels, the use of animal waste product has been studied as a potential source. Given that methane is a highly energetic substance when undergoing combustion and livestock farms produce a considerable quantity of the compound, researchers believe that livestock farms may play a part in the further development of energy resources.
Additional Resources
- The Promise and Perils of Fish Farming – Exploration of the issues surrounding the raising of fish through aquaculture
- Agricultural Marketing Service – Livestock and Grain Market News – The US Department of Agriculture’s compilation of news affecting the production and distribution of livestock
- ERS Newsroom – The US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service with links to topics concerning animal products, farm economy, and farm practices
- Environmental Health Perspectives – The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ peer-reviewed journal
- eXtension – Resources – Informational communities related to farming connected to current university research
Picture Credit: Report of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Commission of the State of Washington – Page 110, Wikimedia Commons, Dcoetzee, 2009
