RUMINANTS & THE ENVIRONMENT

grazing ruminants: Myths & Truths

Grazing ruminants (especially cattle) have gained notoriety for a wide array of environmental issues, from overgrazing to deforestation. However, a number of false accusations have raised their ugly heads in the midst of the ground-breaking hope that regenerative grazing has started.

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There are Truths, But Then There are Myths…

When you mention grazing, most people envision erosion, polluted waterways, wetlands trampled into ugly mudholes, and most infamously, overgrazing. Ranchers have been also made famous for efforts to kill off wildlife to protect their livestock. Such observations–and allegations–have been regularly publicized in multiple sources of media, from scientific papers to magazine articles.

Sadly, much of that is truth. The problem is that people don’t realize that times have changed. Such accusations are based on the history of ranching back in the 19th and 20th centuries where there was no understanding of proper grazing practices nor how to raise animals and support wildlife and wildlife habitat.

As such, these accusations still get repeated over and over again with people (mostly city folk) regarding it as nothing but the truth. To make things worse, they are never presented with any sort of sound solutions to those issues. The only “solutions” they are exposed to are either reducing livestock numbers on the landscape, or completely removing them for extended periods of time (aka “forever”).

LIVESTOCK & GHG EMISSIONS

WATER USE & POLLUTION

LAND-USE CONFLICTS

ALL of these sources regularly blames the animals themselves. Therefore, people believe that these grazing animals (cows, especially) are continually the problem, and must be eliminated by abstaining from eating or buying beef.

They’re basically “taught” to completely ignore the elephant in the room:

THE MANAGEMENT.

Grazing is a giant topic to discuss! Multiple subpages were created in order to cover the different areas that are commonly attributed to grazing and grazing management.

In association with environmental degradation are conflicts with wildlife, deforestation, desertification, overgrazing, and debates about planting trees versus improving grazing management for not just wildlife, but for good healthy grazing animals.

The destruction of the Amazonian rainforest is another contentious issue associated with cattle grazing that I’ll cover in the Deforestation page.

Plus, there are multiple urban myths surrounding how ruminants graze and how they can be managed that I’ll be debunking as well.

Busting these myths requires pointing out the elephant in the room, and providing a snapshot of the solution that is staring at us right in the face.

This means providing an explanation of why we (and the land itself) need ruminants, and why the proper management of them is crucial for our survival, and for the health of our landscapes.