Diseases, heat stress and activist opposition towards beef consumption due to concerns of heavy carbon emissions.

 

Those are some challenges that the beef cattle industry faces. But it's generally the way the business goes: the management of livestock production is, after all, an intricate puzzle with numerous aspects to deal with.

 

At the mercy of nature and unpredictable production quandaries, the beef market is, like any other markets, tossed by external factors like consumer demand, the economy and international trade.

 

Dairy cattle farming appears to be less affected by the more adversarial public perception that beef cattle are receiving.

 

When considering their impact on the climate, dairy cows are known to release methane gas through belches and manure decomposition. However, removing them from the United States does little to cut greenhouse gas emissions which would only drop by about 0.7% in this case, coupled with a resulting shortage of essential nutrients found in milk, according to a research team from Virginia Tech and the United States Department of Agriculture.

 

With too much attention placed on the relation between cattle production and climate change, one could miss the fact that food insecurity is still an existing problem. The world needs to be fed with quality food right now and some of the more pressing challenges could lie in how food-producing animals are cared for so that a sustainable, global food supply can be maintained.

 

One such challenge involves the "extremely intensive physiological process" that cows experience during the transition period between pregnancy and lactation. In that period, "a great amount of glucose is required to be directed for milk production," Pancosma's Sébastien Constantin notes (pages 8-9).

 

With rumen-protected capsaicinoids' (RPC) supplementation, "milk production can be improved by promoting the glucose sparing effect and limiting gluconeogenesis inhibition,"Constatin explains. "…lower insulin levels could lead to a change in glucose distribution, directing more towards the mammary gland and thus improving milk production."

 

From this study, it is seen that an animal that functions well can also produce milk more efficiently. Get this and all other parts of the livestock production puzzle right, and a portion of the world's problem with quality food shortages can be resolved.

 

We should, without question, be better stewards of the planet and this should extend to ensuring the better physical state of livestock.

 

The full article is published on the August 2022 issue of LIVESTOCK & FEED Business. To read the full report, please email to inquiry@efeedlink.com to request for a complimentary copy of the magazine, indicating your name, mailing address and title of the report.