4 ms·
Cattle are no different from any other herbivorous ruminant in terms of methane production, and the wild population is larger than our own herds. Do you also p
by caeril 3y ago
Cattle are no different from any other herbivorous ruminant in terms of methane production, and the wild population is larger than our own herds.
Do you also propose we exterminate every wild deer, elk, moose, buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, giraffe, etc?
- dmurray 3y ago> the wild population is larger than our own herds. It is not. Domesticated cows make up approximately 35% of the world's mammal biomass. That's the same as humans. All wild land animals combined - all the ones you mentioned and many more - make up around 2%. One source: https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass
- flavius29663 3y agobefore modern man, there were 30-60 mil buffaloes in the US, now there are 30 mil cows. It's kinda a net zero
- gameman144 3y agoThere are around 1.5 billion cows alive today.
- the_why_of_y 3y agoThe "Cattle Inventory: United States" chart here claims there are 95 million, down from a peak of 130 million in 1970s. https://cairncrestfarm.com/blog/how-many-cows-are-there-in-the-world/ https://cairncrestfarm.com/blog/how-many-cows-are-there-in-t...
- flavius29663 3y agoI guess it depends how you count them: > Other key findings in the report were: Of the 89.3 million head inventory, all cows and heifers that have calved totaled 38.3 million. There are 28.9 million beef cows in the United States as of Jan. 1, 2023, down 4% from last year. The number of milk cows in the United States increased to 9.40 million. U.S. calf crop was estimated at 34.5 million head, down 2% from 2021. All cattle on feed were at 14.2 million head, down 4% from 2022. from https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2023/01-31-2023.php https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2023/01-31-2023.php So the question is: did they estimate the young buffalo calves as well? That seems to be what brings the cow total number from 40 to 90 million.
- the_why_of_y 3y agoIf you read the actual report that is linked from there, you will find from the table on page 4 that the classes of cattle not listed in the press releases are heifers, steers, bulls, and calves, and that they do sum to ~89 million. https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/h702q636h/ms35vn48m/fj237f291/catl0123.pdf https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/...
- flavius29663 3y agoso the question is: did the buffalo estimated include the calves+heifers or not?
- bjoli 3y agoI think you are VASTLY underestimating the amount of pigs cows and chicken. The domesticated chicken is, for example, by far the most common bird with a population about 15 times larger than the second. Humans make up between 30-40% of land mammal biomass, wild animals around 4% and domesticated animals make up the rest. We have altered the ecological balance to an insane extent. Animal husbandry use almost 80% of arable land. The wild animals are also a part of a circular ecosystem. They are, in contrast to domesticated animals, carbon neutral in most cases. I am writing this on a slow GPRS connection, so I can't provide you with sources, but they are readily available. Both papers and news coverage. I managed to get into this page, but that is all: https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass
- lurkingviolet 3y agoI used to think the wild population would be bigger too, but apparently it is not: https://xkcd.com/1338/ https://xkcd.com/1338/. Welcome to the lucky 10K: https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/