Environmental impacts of cattle production

Adinugroho Purbo

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Agriculture was the key for the development of the human civilization. Although, nowadays it needs to keep up with the increasing human population in the world. While doing so, agriculture has many impacts on the environment. Many of these impacts come from livestock production, specifically that of cattle production. Cattle originated from India and were first domesticated 10,000 years ago in the Middle East. They were, and still are used, for their meat, milk and hide and also for draft power. Throughout history, their populations expanded all over the world, typically to anywhere that grass can be grown. Cattle are ruminant animals that utilize vegetation on marginal land where the cultivation of other crops is not possible. At any given time, the world population of cattle is 1.4 billion head. There is increasing demand for beef and dairy products coming from developing counties with a rising economy. For the supply chain, there are three types of cattle production systems: cow-calf operations, indoor/outdoor rearing with grazing and intensive. The environmental effects of each system will vary on water and land resources and GHG emissions. Out of all agricultural products bovine meat has the largest water footprint, 15,415 L/kg. A substantial portion of this, is the water used to grow feed crops. There is also water pollution that comes from growing the feed, such as fertilizer, pesticides and sediment. Where cattle manure is applied as fertilizer, water can be contaminated by pathogens, drug residues and heavy metals found in cattle excreta. Water cycles are affected by the grazing behavior of cattle. Deforestation to create pasture and land for soybean productionn is rampant in the Amazon rainforest, which has the largest drainage basin in the world. Much of GHG emissons in Brazil comes from the burning of biomass to clear the land. GHG emissions from cattle represent 65% of all livestock emissions, which is 14.5 % of all anthropogenic emissions. Much of cattle GHG emissions is CH4 produced by enteric fermentation. There are also emissions from cattle manure, which emit both CH4 and N2O. Water seems to be the most affected by cattle production. There is a clear connection between water availability and land-use conversion. If demand for beef is reduced, the same will happen for cattle populations and, consequently, CH4 emissions. Less cattle means that more food will be available to people in poverty-stricken countries where hunger is a major issue.

Keywords

cattle production, environment, pollution, greenhouse gases, water footprint

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 24. 4. 2017

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Josef Holec, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources

Bachelor programme / field:
Sustainable Use of Natural Resources / Sustainable Use of Natural Resources