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Science 22 February 1980:
Vol. 207. no. 4433, pp. 843 - 848
DOI: 10.1126/science.207.4433.843
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Articles

The Potential for Grass-Fed Livestock: Resource Constraints

David Pimentel 1, P. A. Oltenacu 1, M. C. Nesheim 2, John Krummel 3, M. S. Allen 4, and Sterling Chick 5

1 Members of the faculty of the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
2 Director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
3 Research support specialist, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
4 Research associate, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
5 Graduate student, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

Using pasture and grazed forest-range for a system of producing live-stock by feeding grass alone reduces the inputs of energy about 60 percent and land resources about 8 percent, but also reduces by about half the production of animal protein in the United States. Under a system in which only grass was fed, livestock would be restricted to beef, milk, and lamb production. The amount of grain fed to U.S. livestock is about 135 million tons (metric) or about ten times the amount consumed by the U.S. population.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Energy Extraction and Use in a Nomadic Pastoral Ecosystem.
M. B. Coughenour, J. E. Ellis, D. M. Swift, D. L. Coppock, K. Galvin, J. T. McCabe, and T. C. Hart (1985)
Science 230, 619-625
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