Principles of Cattle Production 3rd Edition

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Principles of Cattle
Production,
3rd Edition

Clive J.C. Phillips, BSc, MA, PhD

Foundation Chair of Animal Welfare
Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics
School of Veterinary Science
University of Queensland
Gatton 4343
Queensland
Australia
 © C.J.C. Phillips, 2018

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First published in 2018 by CABI, with ISBN 978 1 78639 270 1 HB, 978 1 78639 271 8 PB

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 Contents

Preface to the 3rd Edition vii

Acknowledgements ix

1 The Development of the World’s Cattle Production Systems 1

2 Today’s Cattle Production Systems 14
3 Growth and Milk Production 32
4 Nutrient Requirements and Metabolic Diseases 46
5 Cattle Feeding 71
6 Grazing Management 101
7 Breeding and Reproduction 114
8 Housing and the Environment for Cattle 138
9 Disease and Herd Health Management 172
10 Cattle Welfare 191
11 Cattle Production and the Environment 208
12 The Future Role and Practice of Cattle Farming 225

References 243
Index 247

v
 Preface to the 3rd Edition

It is now approximately 20 years since the first edition of this book was written, and the cattle production industry
is facing very different challenges and opportunities to the original ones I wrote about in the 1990s. The intensifica-
tion and expansion of cattle production systems are still causing major concern on a number of counts but now there
are alternatives to cattle products that are becoming popular. This new edition describes existing cattle production
systems in detail, as before, but it also examines many of the concerns, the difficulties in changing existing systems
and how they can become more sustainable.
Cattle production systems are being increasingly challenged, for their pollution of the atmosphere and environ-
ment, their inefficiency and wasteful use of resources, especially water and energy, the adverse effects of consuming
cattle products on human health and the poor welfare of many cattle in intensive production systems. Governments,
consumers and activist groups are all concerned about the impact that cattle production systems are having in the world
today. I described many of these challenges in the second edition of this book, nearly 10 years ago. The difference
now is that many alternatives to cattle products have become available – cheap poultry meat, fake (vegetable-based)
meat and leather, and milks and milk products based on soya, almond, coconut and other non-animal alternatives.
Next on the horizon are cultured meats (otherwise known as in vitro meat), already able to be grown under laboratory
conditions but not yet produced on an industrial scale. The major investment in these alternatives, including by
companies with strong interests in the cattle industries, and the rapid growth in consumption suggests that the cattle
industry will have to adapt dramatically to maintain its market share.
Despite this rapidly changing market, new opportunities exist for cattle farmers, mainly relating to the
fast-growing demand for cattle products in developing Asian regions. This stems from the growing affluence in these
countries, their desire to emulate a Western diet and continued expansion of the population. However, consumers in
these regions are also those who are more likely to change their diet in response to concerns about the cattle indus-
tries. Currently there is significant growth in the cattle production enterprises in the most prosperous regions of Asia,
especially China, but we should not assume that this growth will continue indefinitely. Imports of live and deadstock
are also increasing, the former leading to concerns about the welfare of cattle exported long distances. Demand for
dairy cow products is also growing in India, which has the largest cow herd in the world, but expansion of the
national herd is resulting in overcrowded cow shelters, as cattle slaughter is banned in most of the country. Africa has
similar ­potential to Asia to grow its demand for cattle products but continued poverty is preventing the cattle
­production systems from modernizing and expanding in the way that they are in Asia.
The book has expanded in key areas of concern. There is a new chapter on cattle welfare, which provides ­important
detail on the major welfare threats and challenges. Classroom exercises are included to aid discussion as a means to
encourage readers to develop skills in resolving ethical dilemmas in the industry. Photographs are included to illustrate
the cattle and systems of production in colour. New threats are considered in the chapter on diseases, especially the
growing evidence for antibiotic resistance. New opportunities and requirements are described, such as better tech-
niques for animal identification. The book addresses cattle production from a global perspective, with consideration of
all cattle production systems from beef cattle on extensive rangeland to dairy cows that are permanently housed.
The cattle industry of the future will eventually be vastly different to what we have today, even though current
production systems are growing at a rate that is demonstrably unsustainable. Cattle farmers are by nature conserva-
tive and reluctant to change their systems, but they will be faced with competition from within, as well as outside,
the industry. Pressure on cattle farmers to produce more from fewer inputs is increasing continually, in response to

vii
 Preface to the 3rd Edition

growing competition between supermarket chains and retail outlets. Resources will at the same time diminish as the
human population continues to grow and unrenewable supplies become exhausted, such as phosphorus fertilizer and
fossil fuels. At the same time consumers are awakening to the need to purchase products that are produced sustain-
ably in an ethical manner. This is driving change in production systems in some of the most responsible sales markets.
Eventually the cattle industries will change and this will be led by entrepreneurs, the young, highly educated vision-
aries who can see a future for sustainable, ethical production systems.
The final chapter takes a new and objective view of where the cattle industry is heading over the next 50 years or
so. Although some of the changes anticipated are similar to those considered in previous editions – more emphasis
on limiting environmental pollution, better welfare systems, healthier products for humans – the developments in
the past 10 years in producing alternatives to cattle products raise an entirely new scenario that has to be carefully
considered. The cattle production enterprises will face major competition that does not exist today, and which may
relegate cattle products to a niche market in some areas. Competition for land may force production to be concen-
trated into areas that cannot be easily used for other more efficient forms of agricultural production, the hills and
uplands in particular. This may seem strange at a time when demand is increasing but the scope for sudden change
in a fickle market should not be underestimated. Consider the photograph developing industry, which was wiped out
almost overnight by digital cameras; telephone switchboard and telegraph operators have suffered a similar fate, and
before them rag-and-bone men, elevator operators and street sweepers. In the developed world cattle farmers may be
relegated to the history books in future unless their systems of production are seen by consumers as relevant, neces-
sary and responsible. Diet is also changing fast, becoming more international, and is likely to continue to develop as
healthy foods are increasingly demanded to allow people to live to their potential age with the assistance of modern
medicine.
In many developing countries cattle are still an essential part of the fabric of society, and the book emphasizes that
there are environmental benefits to cattle farming: the use of cow dung for fuel and in buildings prevents deforestation;
and traction and transport by cattle avoids the use of machinery that relies on fossil fuels and spare parts from
developed countries. Although cattle production systems in developing countries are not without their share of
­problems – including overgrazing, or competition with crop growers – abrupt changes to combat climate change, for
example, would be socially undesirable and economically unwise.
Establishing new systems for producing cattle takes time, skill and money, so cattle producers need to be plan-
ning now for the future. This new edition describes many ways in which farmers can improve their systems over time
to meet new demands. Silvopastoral systems potentially provide better welfare for the cattle and improve the effi-
ciency of production of trees and cattle, including water use, but they take time and skill to establish. Alternatives to
antibiotic use when cows are dried off requires farmers to learn the skills of teat sealant injection and removal;
­improving biosecurity on the farm needs much careful consideration and testing of different strategies, and so on.
This book will stimulate cattle producers and students of cattle production to reflect on the systems, how well they
are meeting the challenges of today and whether they are prepared, or preparing, to meet the challenges of
tomorrow.
Clive Phillips
2018

viii
 Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the following for supplying colour photographs: Andrew Robins (Fig. 11.3), Angus Australia
(Fig. 7.1), Arvind Sharma (Fig. 2.3), Australian Ayrshires (Fig. 7.2), British Charolais Society (Fig. 7.4), British
Simmental Society (Fig. 7.7), Meat and Livestock Australia (Fig. 2.8), UK Hereford Society (Fig. 7.5); all other
photographs are the property of C.J.C. and A.P. Phillips. I acknowledge the One Welfare Portal (http://onewelfare.
cve.edu.au/) for permission to reproduce Box 10.2. I am grateful to the CABI team for their support and patience
during the preparation of the third edition.

ix
 The Development of the
1 World’s Cattle Production
Systems

Prehistoric Development (Fig. 1.1) and banteng cattle. They were large animals
with big horns and powerful forequarters compared
with today’s domesticated cattle, and they inhabited
The climate change that caused the extinction of the dino-
both the temperate and subtropical zones, together
saurs about 65 million years ago led to the replacement of
with bison and yak, and the hotter regions, inhabited
gymnosperms (mostly conifers and ferns) by angiosperms,
by buffalo. They were most prominent in central and
including grasses, herbs and broadleaved trees. Primeval
western Europe, the Mediterranean coastal regions of
ruminants first appeared in the Indian subcontinent about
North Africa, West Asia, the Indian subcontinent and
40 million years ago, adapted to browse the trees of the
central East Asia. The bulls were usually dark brown to
tropical forests. About 25 million years ago the savannahs
black, and the cows, which were much smaller than the
and grasslands of the world developed, and ruminants
bulls, were red-brown.
evolved with the necessary hypsodont teeth to consume
grass and an enlarged forestomach, or rumen, to digest it As early as 38,000 years ago, prehistoric humans
with the aid of microorganisms. had a close association with cattle. Cave paintings in
Europe show the aurochs both running wild on grass-
About 2 million years ago the first members of the
land and being preyed upon by men with arrows and
grazing Bos genus began to appear in northern India.
spears. Their carcasses provided not only meat but also
They spread to other parts of Asia, northern Africa and
valuable hides for tents, boats and clothing and bones
Europe after the Ice Ages, between 250,000 and
for fishhooks and spears. The extinction of the aurochs
750,000 years ago in the Pleistocene period. Three dis-
was largely due to human predation, since they were a
tinct subtypes of Bos cattle developed: the humped Bos
popular target of hunting activities. Competition for
primigenius namadicus, the forebear of the zebu cattle,
feed with domesticated cattle and transmission of dis-
which predominated in the Indian subcontinent and
eases between the two populations may also have con-
became commonly known as Bos indicus; Bos primige-
tributed to their demise. This was the first documented
nius primigenius, which had no hump and gave rise to
anthropogenic extinction, and it began in England in
modern European cattle, commonly known as Bos
about 1300 bc and ended when the last aurochs cow
taurus (or taurine cattle); and Bos primigenius africanus,
died in a hunting reserve in Poland in ad 1627.
which lived in the woodland and shrubland of North
Africa. Related animals in the Bovini tribe that devel-
oped at this time include the bison (Bison bison) of
North America, the European bison (Bison bonasus), Domestication
the gaur (Bos gaurus), banteng (Bos javanicus) and kou-
prey (Bos sauveli) of South and East Asia, the yak Cattle were first domesticated from wild Bos primi-
(Poephagus mutus) of central Asia, the African buffalo genius cattle in the Middle East about 8000–10,000
(Syncerus caffer) and the wild water buffalo (Bubalus years ago. Bos indicus cattle were developed primarily in
arnee) of South-east Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the Indian subcontinent from the diverse range of wild
the likely ancestor of domesticated water buffalo cattle that existed there, and a less diverse new breed
(Bubalus bubalis). type, the European taurine cattle, emerged from
Within the Bovini tribe, the wild cattle, or aurochs sequential limited migrations from west Asia. The
­
(Bos primigenius), were most closely related to the gaur ­resulting genetic diversity is at least as great as humans,

1
© C.J.C. Phillips 2018. Principles of Cattle Production 3rd Edition (C.J.C. Phillips)
 Chapter 1

Fig. 1.1. A family group of gaur cattle (Bos gaurus) in Malaysia:

(from left to right) calves, a cow and a bull.

and considerably greater than the dog. The domesticated Domesticated cattle were therefore probably used
cattle were earlier maturing, with smaller brains and less for the production of milk and meat and for draught
acute senses than the aurochs, but possessed larger ud- power from the start of their symbiotic relationship
ders. They were less sexually dimorphic, i.e. males and with humans, but even as early as the Stone Age cattle
females were more similar in size, and they were more also had a dominant role in religion. This mainly re-
variable in coat colour and horn shape, as well as more lated to their power–fertility symbolism, which derives
likely to be polled (without horns), which was a disad- from their strength, aggression and the ability of bulls
vantage for aurochs but not for domesticated cattle. The to serve large numbers of cows. The bull came to dom-
aurochs were seasonal breeders, with offspring pro- inate the religions of the Middle East and North Africa
duced in late spring, whereas the breeding period for in particular. The ancient Egyptians worshipped the
domesticated cattle shows little seasonality. The diet of bull god, Apis, which was embodied in bulls that were
aurochs and domesticated cattle was similar, mostly selected from local herds. These bulls were ritually
grasses but with tree foliage during winter. The aurochs slaughtered at the end of each year, after which they
lived in harmony with their varied environment: grass- were embalmed and ceremoniously placed in a tomb in
lands, forests and wetlands. Domesticated cattle sur- Saqqarah. The ancient Egyptians also worshipped cow
vived in increasingly large numbers in deforested areas goddesses, which represented fertility and nurture.
where the land had been converted to grassland. Significantly, in Hebrew culture, as the people changed
The milking of cows for the production of human from being warriors to farmers, the image of the bull
food was already well developed at the time of the first changed from aggression to virility.
written records in Mesopotamia in 6000 bc; it is likely
to have originated soon after the domestication of
cattle, which had occurred at some time up to 2000
years beforehand. Studies of Neolithic cows and the Cattle Farming in Eurasia
human diet in Europe and Africa in approximately
4000–5000 bc have shown that dairying was common- The spread of cattle farming across Asia and Europe
place at this time, and that calves were weaned early, at was caused as much by the invasions of nomadic
some time between 2 and 9 months of age. This may herdsman from the Eurasian steppes as by the Middle
have been due to their lactation being shortened as a Eastern influence. These invasions started as long ago
result of limited feed resources, but it may be that the as 4000 bc, when the European Neolithic farmers
herders separated cow and calf at this time because they were conquered by the herdsmen on horseback who
wanted to extract milk for themselves as soon as the calf brought traditions of raising cattle on the steppes.
could feed on solid feed (Balasse and Tresset, 2002). In These farmers had been settled agriculturists, growing
North Africa, climatic conditions were getting drier at cereals and keeping small numbers of livestock.
this time, and the Neolithic herders began to replace Security was provided by investing in the land, return-
cattle with sheep and goats that have lower nutritional ing nutrients to build up fertility and trading peace-
requirements and cope with drought better. fully between small communities.

2
 The Development of the World’s Cattle Production Systems

Cattle had a crucial role in both religion – princi- country, looking after cattle that have mostly been
pally for sacrifice – and as a tradable commodity. In abandoned. Conditions are sometimes poor and cows
many European countries the word for ‘cattle’ is syn- are often overcrowded (Fig. 1.2) and dependent on
onymous with ‘capital’. The resistance of the people of philanthropic donations, including of food for the
the southern part of the Italian peninsula to encroach- cattle (Fig. 1.3).
ment from Rome was fought under a banner of their Nowhere exemplifies the problems facing cattle
cattle culture: the name Italia, originally referring to the production systems in developing countries better than
south, is popularly suggested to have meant ‘(land of ) India. With one of the highest cattle populations per
young cattle’. When the people from the Asian steppes capita in the world, this vast country has had to cope
invaded Europe they brought few cultural advances but with increased human population pressure and the re-
a new warrior-like attitude, in which security was quirement to maintain inefficient cattle production sys-
valued as well as the ability to move fast (on horseback), tems for religious reasons. Nowadays, many of the
with little allegiance to any particular place. Warriors abandoned cattle in India have assumed the role of
were expected to expropriate cattle, often for sacrifice to scavengers and they compete only little with humans
appease the gods. The influence of these warriors was for food resources, as less than 20% of their feed is suit-
particularly pronounced in the west of Europe, where able for humans. Most is either a by-product of the
the Celtic descendants of the Eurasian herdsman devel-
oped a powerful cattle-based culture. Some historians
believe this fuelled the colonizing tendencies of the
Iberian and British peoples.
The warriors from the Asian steppes also migrated
into India, where the cow acquired a unique signifi-
cance in the Hindu religion. A ritualistic and sacrificial
role of cattle was recognized in the Vedic literature as
long ago as 1500 bc. At the time the human population
density was low and large areas were forested before do-
mesticated cattle were widely kept. As the population
grew, an increase in crop production became inextric-
ably linked with the use of cattle for tillage. It became
impossible for everybody to consume beef, as the ani-
mals were required for draught purposes, and the cows
Fig. 1.2. A heavily stocked cow house in India, containing Gir
were required to produce offspring to till the soil. The
(brown) and Kankrej (grey) breeds in a gaushala (cow sanctu-
consumption of beef became restricted to the upper ary). The cows are kept in this yard for 19 hours per day.
classes, in particular the Brahmin sect, and a strict class
system evolved. When increased population further re-
stricted the use of cattle for beef consumption, strict
regulations were introduced that prevented beef con-
sumption altogether. With the prohibition of cattle
consumption, shelters, or gaushalas, were established
to care for unwanted animals or those that had become
unproductive. In the period of British occupation
cow protection became a source of national pride for
Indian people. The first major revolt against the British,
in 1857, was due to a rumour that they were using
beef tallow to grease cartridges used by Hindu sol-
diers. Cow protection movements evolved from this
time onward, including by Mahatma Gandhi. Even
today cattle protection remains a political issue, with
most states banning cattle trading and slaughter. Fig. 1.3. Cattle kept in an Indian gaushala after they have
There are about 3000 gaushalas now, all around the reached the end of their working life.

3
 Chapter 1

human food industry or is grown on land that cannot

be used to produce human food. They have become an Colonial Expansion
essential and valuable part of the agrarian economy, but
two problems remain. Firstly, the inability to slaughter In Spain the ideological significance of cattle is deeply
cows requires the maintenance of sick and ailing animals, rooted in the culture brought by the Celtic invasion ini-
although some are sold to Muslims, for whom slaughter tially and later by the Romans. The bullfight signifies
is not against their religious beliefs. Large numbers of the trial of strength between humans and one of
cattle are also smuggled across the borders to neigh- ­nature’s most fearsome beasts. The consumption of
bouring countries for slaughter. Scavenging in the streets beef reared on the Spanish plains has always been
around communities with no refuse collection, many popular but, for a long time, the warm climate meant
Indian cattle consume significant quantities of indigest- that spices had to be added to meat because it spoiled
ible and potentially toxic materials, especially plastic, in rapidly. When Christopher Columbus set off to find a
their search for food residues. Secondly, the increased quick route to the East for spices, he found something
livestock population has led to overgrazing of many of much greater significance for the cattle industry.
grassland areas, which were first created when India’s ex- The virgin territory of the New World provided cattle
tensive forests were felled. The cultivable land area has pastures of superior quality to the arid interior of Spain
been declining by over 1%/year and, at the same time, and paved the way for the colonization of most of the
the livestock population increased by more than 50% in Americas. With no natural predators, the Spanish
the second half of the 20th century. Some of the grazing Longhorn cattle multiplied rapidly, and by 1870 there
areas used for cattle could be used for the production of were over 13 million cattle on the Argentinian pampas
human food but, because of the high social status ac- alone. The principal South American exports at the time
corded to those with large herds, the increasingly affluent were salted beef and cattle hides. In the late 19th cen-
Indians are turning to grassland improvement to support tury refrigerated transport enabled carcasses to be sent
their expanded herds. Water retention properties of the to Europe to fulfil the rising demand for beef. Most of
land are improved by contour ploughing and trenching. the production was, and in places still is, on large
Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer are used in greater ranches or haciendas, so that the production system and
quantities. In some areas sustainable use of grassland re- the profits were in the control of a few families. This
sources is encouraged by the incorporation of legumes oligopoly of agricultural production in the Iberian
into the sward, which can contribute substantial quan- Peninsula and in its colonies prompted regular revolts
tities of nitrogen. Intercropping is often used to improve by the peasants that are typical of those that have oc-
water and mineral resource use. curred in Europe since the Middle Ages, and most re-
Over the course of history, the fencing of grazing cently in Portugal in the 1970s. The most recent South
land has been an important measure to control the American revolution emanated at least in part from
movement and nutrition of cattle. Land enclosure poverty of the farm workers, or campesinos, in Chile in
began in England in the 12th century ad and acceler- the 1970s.
ated in the 18th century due to the demands of an ex- Another large-scale colonization with beef cattle,
panding population. Enclosing land is no guarantee that of North America, began with the industrial revo-
against overgrazing and it does not create any extra lution providing wealth for a new British middle class,
land, but it is an effective management tool to allow who came to be able to afford to eat beef on a regular
farmers to use available feed resources most efficiently. basis. The English aristocracy had in the Middle Ages
The controlled burning of trees and weeds has been an- gained a reputation for excessive feasting on a variety of
other management tool to allow productive grass spe- meats, with beef being the most favoured. The nouveau
cies to be introduced. In mediaeval times, periodically riche of the 19th century required choice joints to feed
leaving the land fallow to create fodder banks allowed their families, and English breeders selected smaller,
soil reserves to accumulate and fodder supplies to match better-formed cattle than the Spanish Longhorn that
ruminant numbers. However, with increasing popula- was by this time common in South America. Breeds
tion this is now rare, and worldwide there has often such as the Hereford were developed, which could be
been insufficient control over cattle numbers, with fattened in two grazing seasons, whereas the larger ani-
grazing resources overused and deterioration of grass mals might require up to 3 years. A key figure in the
production potential. development of British breeds was Robert Bakewell,

4
 The Development of the World’s Cattle Production Systems

who first selected cattle for meat production rather than

for the dual purposes of meat and milk production. The Growth of Dairy Production
In the late 19th century British and American pion- Systems
eers began to search for new cattle pastures to provide
for the growing demand for beef in Europe. The western For most of the second millennium ad, milk was pro-
ranges that covered much of the interior of the USA duced for home consumption in villages, and cows were
were home to about 4 million bison that had roamed kept in the cities to produce milk for the urban popula-
free for about 15,000 years. In a 10-year period, from tions. A rapid expansion of dairy farming in industrial-
1865 to 1875, the Americans and several European ized regions can be traced back to the advent of the
‘game hunters’ systematically slaughtered the bison, railway. In Britain, for example, it meant that milk
mainly for their hides, which were more highly prized could be transported from the wet west of the country
than cattle hides because of their greater elasticity. to the big cities, especially London, Bristol and the
Coincidentally, perhaps, the slaughter of the bison urban centres in the north. Nowadays, transporting
greatly assisted in the subjugation of the indigenous milk and milk products is largely by road vehicles, but
Indians, who, deprived of their livelihood, became de- the centres of dairying remain in the west, where the
pendent on the colonizers. Many assisted in the bison rainfall is high and there is a plentiful supply of grass for
slaughter and then turned to subsistence farming in the much of the year.
reservations. A rangeland management system that had In many developing countries such a ready supply
been sustained by the Indians for several thousand years of milk and milk products in the cities is not always
had been destroyed almost overnight. available. With a continued migration from rural to
The system that replaced it was funded by invest- urban areas, many rural migrants in the cities have inad-
ment from abroad, especially from Britain, which sup- equate access to high-quality dairy products because of
ported the purchase of cattle, the expansion of the their high cost. Often milk is diluted, or there is spoilage
railways and later the development of refrigerated trans- after being brought in from the countryside. Milk and
port. The occupation of rangeland by cattle ranchers dairy products provide an important source of minerals,
was facilitated by a simple invention, barbed wire, particularly calcium, vitamins (especially vitamin A) and
which could be used by the ‘cowboys’ to stake a claim to a highly digestible supply of energy and protein. In
as much land as each felt able to manage. Publicly sub-Saharan Africa, rapid deterioration of milk and
owned rangeland in the USA was, and still is, leased for dairy products in the warm conditions prevailing neces-
a sum well below the market value. There was a similar sitates the establishment of small urban and peri-urban
spread of cattle over much of northern Australia, farms, for which feed and other supplies have to be
though this largely occurred during the 20th century, brought in from surrounding rural areas. Securing
when farming methods for the tropics and subtropics ­adequate forage resources can be difficult as the cities
had been developed and sheep had been found to be expand and distances to rural areas are often too long for
unviable in these areas. Decimated by disease and en- the import of large quantities of fresh fodder. Conserved
forced subjugation, many aboriginal people found fodder may be scarce in supply, as well as being expen-
work on the large cattle stations. When the government sive and bulky to transport. In the rural areas there is
forced station managers to pay the workers a wage in sometimes conflict for land access between the settled
1968, there was an exodus from the stations, which agriculturists producing fodder and other crops and
were unable or unwilling to pay for labour that had pre- ­migrant pastoralists. Where land is limited in supply, the
viously been provided in return for just the provision of rural poor usually have to feed their cattle on waste
food, clothing and accommodation. products, including crop residues, or graze them on land
The USA grew in stature as a world power as Britain that could not easily be used for other purposes. Rarely
declined, and with the increase in American affluence do they utilize grain, which can be used to feed humans.
came the demand for well-fattened beef for home con- Of increasing interest is the use of by-products, such as
sumption. Then, instead of the cattle being finished on paper and vegetable wastes, in the suburban dairy pro-
the range, they began to be transported for fattening on duction systems. These non-­conventional by-products
cereal-based diets in feedlots of the southern one-time are increasingly used with benefits to the environment
Confederate states. and the efficiency of land use.

5
 Chapter 1

Cities are not just centres of human population but they are strongly connected with the country’s religion,
also of industrial development, and the continued Hinduism. As sacred animals, they are not usually slaugh-
growth of urban and peri-urban industry has left the tered for meat, but are used for production of milk, milk
problem of waste disposal. Some wastes, e.g. from the products and faeces. Elsewhere cattle are concentrated into
food and drink industry, can be used without modifica- parts of the world in which grass is more easily grown than
tion for cattle production. They are characterized by crops: the savannah regions of Africa – both north and
variable nutritional value and poor hygienic quality and south of the equator – and Australia, the prairies of North
are more suited to feeding to ruminants than to mono- America, the pampas of South America and the steppes of
gastric animals because of their ability to ferment central and Eastern Europe. An exception is north-west
low-quality feeds. Brewers’ and distillers’ grains are par- Europe, where mixed farming systems integrate cattle and
ticularly valued industrial by-products. Many other agricultural crop production.
wastes do not have an established outlet and their safe Cattle production systems are often criticized for
disposal can be expensive; alternatively they may create their environmental, welfare and nutritional impacts.
a public health hazard if they are disposed of carelessly. In addition, protein production from beef cattle is one
Some can be utilized for cattle feed but others contain of the least efficient ways of producing protein for
toxic agents, such as arsenicals in waste newspaper, or a human consumption (Table 1.1), in part because of the
variety of transmissible diseases. Zoonoses are of par- high cost of maintaining cows to produce a relatively
ticular concern, especially since the transmission of a small number of calves. However, if it uses land that
spongiform encephalopathy occurred from animal car- could not otherwise be used for human food produc-
casses to cattle and thence to humans in the UK. Many tion directly from crops it may augment the total food
feel that such recycling practices risk the emergence of protein produced for human consumption. Protein in
novel pathogens, but it must be remembered that recyc- the milk of dairy cows is produced as efficiently as
ling predominates in nature and is in the interests of the the non-ruminant protein sources – pigs, fish and
development of an efficient industry. It is therefore not poultry (see also Chapter 5 for discussion of processing
surprising that international bodies such as the Food and efficiency).
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Cattle are an integral part of the lives of many of the
and the World Bank have identified peri-urban dairying world’s poorest people. In Africa, the savannah belt has
as showing the highest potential for meeting the many cattle farmers (Fig. 1.5), especially in Nigeria,
growing nutrient need of urban consumers. Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Malawi (FAO,
2002). In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and much of
South America, all of which are major cattle-rearing re-
gions (Fig. 1.4), a high proportion of people earning less
Cattle in the World Today than US$2/day manage their cattle in mixed farming
systems (compare Figs 1.4 and 1.6). Cattle make a
The world’s cattle population is currently approximately ­significant contribution to wealth, and any attempts to
1.4 billion (Robinson et al., 2014), or one for every five restrict cattle numbers because of their environmental
people, distributed across every continent except Antarctica impact will need to take into account their widespread
(Fig. 1.4). Given that the biomass of cattle is almost ten use by the world’s poorest people. In many of the poorest
times that of people, the biomass of cattle in the world is parts of Africa, where only a small proportion of the
almost twice that of people and the largest of any animal on population has access to electricity or clean cooking
earth. It is increasingly recognized that the dominance of fuels, cattle dung is dried and used as a fuel for cooking.
livestock systems in use of the world’s land and water Sometimes it is mixed with straw. Its use in this way has
resources must be re-evaluated in the light of today’s sustain- been an important means of cooking food to improve its
ability goals: poverty reduction, food and nutritional secur- value for humans for thousands of years. Temperatures
ity, ecosystem protection, mitigation of greenhouse gases, of several hundred degrees Celsius can be reached in a
and adaptation to climate change (Herrero et al., 2013). few minutes and sustained for a sufficient period of time
Just over a quarter of the cattle are dairy cows. Their for cooking. Using dung for fuel replaces the use of fire-
density is determined by climate, topography, political wood (which has resulted in deforestation), but it pre-
considerations and religion (Fig 1.4). Nearly 30% reside in vents the dung being used as a valuable fertilizer on the
India, more than in any other country in the world. Here land and may lead to increased use of artificial fertilizer.

6
 AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER PROTECTION DEPARTMENT
Cattle density map matching FAOSTAT (modelled) Animal Production and Health Division

The Development of the World’s Cattle Production Systems

Number per square km

<1 5–10 20–50 100–250 Water

1–5 10–20 50–100 >250 Unsuitable for ruminant

Fig. 1.4. World map of cattle density (from FAO, 2008a).

7
 Chapter 1

Table 1.1. Protein production efficiency of major animals

used for human foods (adapted from Tilman and Clark, 2014).
Cattle Production Systems
Protein production efficiency (edible
and Climate
animal protein produced/feed
Human food protein used) Cattle are now kept in all the major climatic regions,
which demonstrates the importance that they have
Beef 0.05
­assumed as the major species domesticated for the pro-
Mutton and goat 0.07 vision of food. Because of the large amount of heat pro-
Pork 0.17 duced by the microbial fermentation of coarse grasses,
Poultry 0.20 and their large size, they thrive better than most other
Milk 0.25
domesticated animals in cold climates. The provision of
a naturally ventilated shelter enables cattle to be kept
Trout 0.25
for milk production in extreme cold, such as in Canada,
even if ambient winter temperatures approach the lower
Using dung directly for cooking pollutes the atmosphere end of their comfort zone. Feed intakes are increased to
and may cause respiratory problems in humans. Turning generate more internal heat but their survival is not
it into biogas, which is mainly methane (50%) and threatened. Breeds of cattle that thrive under such con-
carbon dioxide (30%), requires some resources but it is a ditions are usually of the more endomorphic type, such
much more efficient and less polluting fuel for house- as the Hereford. At the opposite end of the climatic
hold use. Cattle dung is sometimes used for other spectrum, cattle are able to survive in some of the hot-
purposes, for example in India where it is spread on test environments of the planet, especially if they are
the floor of houses because it has some sterilizing protected from the sun’s radiant heat by provision of
properties. adequate shade. More crucial than the temperature in
In the long term, cattle production systems cannot these environments is a regular supply of potable water.
usually be justified only by their role in feeding and Despite their successful integration into farming
providing fuel for the rural poor, though this argument systems in extreme climates, cattle are best kept in
has been made to justify livestock exports from Australia moist, temperate environments with a regular rainfall
to Asia and intensification of livestock production in that enables grass to grow for much of the year. In some
countries, like South Africa, where there are rich and parts of the southern hemisphere, such as New Zealand
poor living in close contact. The reality is usually that and southern Chile, and southern Ireland in the nor-
the poor cannot afford to buy the cattle products as thern hemisphere, grass will grow for the entire year
they are too expensive per unit of all of the major nutri- and grazing systems predominate. In more extreme lati-
ents, and they have to be sold to generate income to buy tudes colder conditions in winter mean that most cattle
staple foods. In the USA, even though cattle produc- are housed for about 6 months of the year. Mediterranean
tion has been intensified to reduce costs, meat products climates are often too dry for cattle and the keeping of
still cost over 40 cents per 100 kcal, and grains, beans, sheep and goats is traditional. Because of their low feed
legumes, nuts and seeds only 10–20c/100 kcal intake requirements sheep and goats survive on sparse
(Drewnowski, 2010). Furthermore, the cost of meat is vegetation more easily than cattle, and sheep in par-
not the full cost, which should include the environ- ticular can survive with less water, producing a faecal
mental pollution that animal farms cause, and the cost pellet that is harder and drier. Mediterranean cattle pro-
of their contribution to ill health, and eventually the duction systems are therefore more likely to rely on
cost of finding alternatives to the antibiotics that are forage crops such as maize rather than on grazing, as in
being rendered ineffective because of their overuse in the Po valley of Italy.
intensive livestock production. The high cost is princi- At high temperatures cattle reduce their produc-
pally due to the high level of resources that is required tion levels unless they are given shade, cooling and a
for cattle production. This includes large quantities of highly concentrated diet to minimize the heat incre-
grain crops for intensive and semi-intensive feeding of ment of digestion. Their morphology adapts to make
cattle. The grain used for all animal feed, which ac- their coat short-haired and shiny, to reflect the sun’s
counts for 40% of all arable land worldwide, could feed rays, so that they absorb less heat and lose it more
3.5 billion people (Niamir-Fuller, 2016). readily. Cattle have become well adapted to a hot