Grazing

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Grazing

• Environmental Systems and Society
• Ms. Oehlke

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Grazing

• Grazing is a way to convert inedible grasses and
  plants into meat for human consumption.
• Grazing must be done carefully to avoid soil
  degradation.

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Productive Soil

• Productive soil contains the nutrients and
  organic matter needed for plants to grow.
• The topsoil must be left in place for the future

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TopsoilNeeds plants to protect it from erosion
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Overgrazing

• Overgrazing has profoundly upset the dynamics of
  any range ecosystems,reducing biodiverstiy and
  altering the feeding and breeding patterns of
  birds, small mammals, reptiles and insects,
• -World Resources Institute

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Deforestation Short-term profits, long-term costs

• Clearing and burning of forests contributes 25
  of all human-induced carbon emissions into the
  atmosphere. Since trees absorb atmospheric
  carbon, deforestation also destroys valuable
  "carbon sinks
• Loss of biodiversity An two to five percent of
  all rainforest species will become extinct over
  the next decade, largely as a result of habitat
  loss caused by deforestation

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Deforestation for grazing

• Soil degradation Stripped of tree cover,
  fragile forest soils are rapidly depleted and
  eroded by sun, wind and rain. Overgrazing
  accelerates nutrient loss and erosion
• Water pollution Without the protective forest
  canopy and roots, soil also loses its capacity to
  retain water and is washed into streams and
  rivers.
• Source http//www.fao.org/Ag/magazine/0603sp2.htm
  

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• Source fao

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• The area around Lake
• Baringo used to be a great
• source of biodiversity.
• But overgrazing in the
• past 50 years turned it
• into a barren wasteland
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3461983.stm

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• http//naturalresources.nsw.gov.au/salinity/images
  /book1_overgrazing2.jpg

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Public Lands

• Overgrazing occurs in many cases because the
  rangelands are public lands not owned by the
  people who own the animals.
• Tragedy of the commons
• (Nebel, 1998)

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• Overgrazing of public lands in California
• http//wildsonora.com

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• Palni Hills, southern India
• All the top soil has been eroded due to livestock
  over grazing.
• Over 30 cm of soil has been lost and mounds of
  the more resistant weathered bedrock remain.

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Overgrazing damage near streams
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Sustainable Grazing

• http//www.profitablecattle.com.au/

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Sustainable Grazing

• Rotate the animals through various pastures
  through the seasons
• Support biodiversity
• Improve soil fertility
• Source http//www.hearstranch.com/store/pages.php
  ?pageid41

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Argentina

• http//www.nature.org/wherewework/southamerica/arg
  entina_es/areaprotegida/art22605.html

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• http//www.spiritviewranch.com/articlesInfoNews.ht
  m

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Help in South America

• FAO is helping pioneer in Colombia, Costa Rica
  and Nicaragua a new approach to slowing the rate
  of deforestation and erosion of biodiversity
  paying livestock owners to plant trees, fodder
  shrubs and "live fences" in and around pastures
  where their cattle graze
• http//www.fao.org/Ag/magazine/0603sp2.htm

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• Resource fao

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• Resource fao

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Better management practices

• Burn unwanted woody stems
• Reseed the land with perennial grass varieties
  that hold water.
• Manage cattle to move before overgrazing
• Resource National Resource Conservation Service

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Sustainable grazing
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Human Health

• Cattle grazing on natural grasses contain more
  omega-3 fatty acids than cattle feed corn in
  feedlots.
• Cattle in feedlots need antibiotics and are fed
  growth hormones grass fed beef are not!
• http//www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/omega_3_fatty_aci
  ds.htm

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Bibliography

• Nebel, B.and Wright, R. (1998) Environmental
  Science 6th edition. Prentice Hall New Jersey
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
  Nations