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> https://extension.sdstate.edu/grass-fed-beef-market-share-grass-fed-beef https://extension.sdstate.edu/grass-fed-beef-market-share-gr... (updated June 28, 202
by myshpa 4y ago
> https://extension.sdstate.edu/grass-fed-beef-market-share-grass-fed-beef https://extension.sdstate.edu/grass-fed-beef-market-share-gr... (updated June 28, 2021)
"About 4% of U.S. beef retail and food service sales is comprised by grass-fed beef with a value of roughly $4 billion.
..
There were about 92 million head of cattle in the United States at the end of 2015, with roughly 30 million head slaughtered that year. For perspective, the grass-fed industry currently slaughters about 230,000 head, or less than 1% of the total conventional slaughter."
> https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/13/746576239/is-grass-fed-beef-really-better-for-the-planet-heres-the-science https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/13/746576239/is...
"About 75% to 80% of grass-fed beef sold in the U.S. is grown abroad, from Australia, New Zealand and parts of South America ..."
At least we know where the Amazon beef goes to.
- dgacmu 4y agoYes. "grass fed" here means finished on grass. The first 600-800lbs of growth are almost always on pasture, eating a mix of forage (the grasses) and possibly supplemental feed in winter depending on location. As I said above, most animals are finished (grown from 600-800 to final weight of about 1400lbs) on a feedlot eating grains and soy and whatnot. Those are not counted as grass-fed beef. Feedlots are still outdoors. It's silly expensive to build a building around them. Feedlots are big.
- myshpa 4y agoYou're right about buildings and feedlots. I'm not from USA, we don't really have feedlots here. I must have been thinking about dairy cows, pigs and chickens. Crammed in buildings like this: https://web.archive.org/web/20230219172107/https://i.redd.it/bszw3bosz7ja1.jpg https://web.archive.org/web/20230219172107/https://i.redd.it... https://images.ctfassets.net/ww1ie0z745y7/6Uw3q2e3Ee5LLG53DsDIvP/aaf6ccc729974ff755a476ab4d5ff75e/img-news-article-placeholder_2x.png https://images.ctfassets.net/ww1ie0z745y7/6Uw3q2e3Ee5LLG53Ds...
- dgacmu 4y agoCorrect, most chickens are raised in enclosed buildings. And most pigs are farmed intensively, whether that be fully outside or with a roof. Dairy cows in the US are a mix of confined and pastured; it's kind of an ongoing experiment. Dairy calves are more likely to be raised in some form of shelter/confinement than beef calves. (Here, a "beef calf" is one being raised specifically with the intent to raise it for slaughter; many dairy cows will end up becoming beef eventually but the path to getting there is different.) Beef cattle outnumber dairy cattle about 3:1 in the US.