Is the answer to UK livestock sustainability

[Kiwi Pete]

Here mrs house wife please buy this beef it was fed on insects ! It’s very nice oh mr farmer I think i will go vegan you desperate barsteward .

Wait til you get onto feeding cow pies to pigs....
the thing is it's a bloody good feed for them because the cow breaks down the cellulose for the pig to digest, which it would otherwise struggle to do.
Which is probably why they come out of the bush at this time of the year to dig for grassgrubs and worms, and eat cowpats - and it's why wild pork tastes so good

 

[digger64]

I've seen one of our cows catch and eat a Yellowhammer that wasn't quite quick enough, so they'll chomp through heaps of invertebrates if available. Aphids, spittlebugs, crickets, spiders

Good way to keep your Nitrogens safe from being lost, is to have most of it trying to eat itself.
There's a lot going on when you observe intensive grazing - like harriers killing fieldmice and the cattle flushing them off their kill to eat the mouse. Sometimes 3 or 4 gang up on the hawk so it isn't "just an accident" at all

I used to be too busy to watch it, now I sit and watch. Makes a bit of a mockery of strict vegetarianism and veganism when even cows recognise easy protein when they see it .

I think they are looking for phosphate in carcasses also fence posts and rails etc could be wrong though

 

[Agrivator]

Intensive grassland. with optimum nitrogen applications, either grazed or conserved as silage/haylage in a vegetative stage of growth, is probably the optimum way of providing protein for sheep and beef cattle.

 

[NZDan]

This is another issue that the "get rid of all cattle and sheep" crowd conveniently overlook: all of those are byproducts of a human food (or drink) product which are given an economic value by feeding them to livestock. What would happen to them without livestock? AD? What would their value be then? What impact would that have on the human food product they are derived from?

We have the same issue with PKE, if we don't import it as stock food it has no value and is often as not just dumped in the ocean, the value that is added is the removal of a pollutant, but it doesn't change that fact the PK Oil is devastating the environment in areas where it is grown

 

[Stuart J]

The demand for soya as a livestock feed undoubtedly is fuelling amazonian deforestation. By-product or not.
.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

The demand for soya as a livestock feed undoubtedly is fuelling amazonian deforestation. By-product or not.
.

It's not just as livestock feed though. If we are (rightly) blaming animals then we must also blame humans for whom it is also used in so many foods and other ways.

In the UK, at least, a quite small proportion of soya imported goes to ruminants. Most goes to human uses, pigs and poultry.

 

[delilah]

I though you were all in favour of a local food system???

Absolutely. However, localizing the food system starts the other side of the farm gate, for two reasons. One, that's where all the environmental damage is. Two, all meaningful change is demand driven.
Change how you farm all you want but it wont save the planet, it will just mean you get laughed at by the cartel for providing the greenwash to allow them to carry on as they are.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Intensive grassland. with optimum nitrogen applications, either grazed or conserved as silage/haylage in a vegetative stage of growth, is probably the optimum way of providing protein for sheep and beef cattle.

Legumes is even more optimum if you can grow them because you don't have to pay for the nitrogen

 

[Agrivator]

Intensive grassland. with optimum nitrogen applications, either grazed or conserved as silage/haylage in a vegetative stage of growth, is probably the optimum way of providing protein for sheep and beef cattle.

Legumes is even more optimum if you can grow them because you don't have to pay for the nitrogen

The advantage of grassland is that under good management, it can last for several years or even indefinitely, and it will be productive for up to 10 months during the year. The same field can produce grazing and at least two cuts for conservation.

Legumes obviously have a place, but they have a shorter growing season, and most of them are annuals and are expensive to renew each year.

Short-term leys and legumes are pushed by seedsmen, but they are not necessarily the most efficient way of feeding beef cattle and sheep. Just look at how Lupins were all the rage about 10 (20?) years ago. And forage peas are great for providing a tasty snack as you do your morning rounds, but the seed price is extortionate and if you don't use an additive, the silage ends up as shite.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

We have the same issue with PKE, if we don't import it as stock food it has no value and is often as not just dumped in the ocean, the value that is added is the removal of a pollutant, but it doesn't change that fact the PK Oil is devastating the environment in areas where it is grown

Good point, similar argument when farming becomes the end land use - the fact it's cleared for lumber in the first instance is generally always overlooked = FARMING BAD GUY

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

The advantage of grassland is that under good management, it can last for several years or even indefinitely, and it will be productive for up to 10 months during the year. The same field can produce grazing and at least two cuts for conservation.

Legumes obviously have a place, but they have a shorter growing season, and most of them are annuals and are expensive to renew each year.

Short-term leys and legumes are pushed by seedsmen, but they are not necessarily the most efficient way of feeding beef cattle and sheep. Just look at how Lupins were all the rage about 10 (20?) years ago. And forage peas are great for providing a tasty snack as you do your morning rounds, but the seed price is extortionate and if you don't use an additive, the silage ends up as shite.

Plenty of clovers and trefoils are persistent and can be grazed. At £5 or £6 a kilo, they're not much more expensive per hectare than grasses.

And if we're talking about sustainability, we really can't keep relying on carbon intensive fertiliser.

I'm not knocking grassland by the way, but I find it grows perfectly well without added nitrogen

 

[Hilly]

first step to change grading system to suit more native type fat cattle , next step encourage cattle to be reared grown and finished on grass alone and a premium offerd for that .

 

[SteveHants]

Think prawns are crustations or similar, somet to do with shell?
Can already buy deep fried crickets, not sure on the slaughter house facilities needed or how crickets are reared to red tractor standards.
Is there not a lab factory Cambridgeshire that is growing flies for human protein?

Prawns are decapod crustaceans.
Plenty of insects eaten around the world though.
Seems like a good idea to me, black soldier flies are really productive, can convert food waste into digestible protein.
To me, it ought to be the next big thing in poultry.

 

[DaveGrohl]

It's not just as livestock feed though. If we are (rightly) blaming animals then we must also blame humans for whom it is also used in so many foods and other ways.

In the UK, at least, a quite small proportion of soya imported goes to ruminants. Most goes to human uses, pigs and poultry.

It's the same worldwide. It does seem to be that people are really thinking about dairy and beef when they demonise soya meal being fed, when they should be thinking about poultry and pigs.

Soy: food, feed, and land use change

The global growth in the production of soy and its use for different types of foods has been, and continues to be, a major contributor to land use change in the Amazon and other regions in South America. This building block explores the connections between soy, land use change, and discussions...

www.tabledebates.org

According to the above source about 2% of the world's soy production ends up in cattle rations. That isn't the message we're hearing endlessly though is it?