3 ms·

Cows drinking isn't the major pie anyways. Cow feeding on Alfalfa which has been grown and irrigated with huge amount of water is the problem.

taejavu 5mo ago
The vast majority of cattle are raised in a pasture and eat grass, even those labeled “grain fed”. Grain fed just means they spend some time (e.g. 30 days) in a feed lot. I hadn’t heard about cows eating alfalfa though, where is that happening? Wouldn’t it be more valuable to sell it to people instead of using it as feed?
- YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
  Grass takes lots of water to grow.
  - taejavu 5mo ago
    That water is free. It’s called rain.
    - velvetfoxtrot 5mo ago
      Sort of. It has the opportunity cost of the forests we cleared for it.
    - YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
      So when there is no rain you let the cattle die? Feed on other people's land? By that logic even server's water can come from rain. > Around 14 percent of the 3 670 km3 of freshwater withdrawn each year for the irrigation of crops and pasture is allocated to produce feed items for livestock [1]: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a7f92713-890a-4ff8-85ae-eb2aa76ae702/content/state-of-the-worlds-land-and-water-resources-for-food-and-agriculture-2025-2025/technical-options-pastureland-feed-production.html#gsc.tab=0 https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a7f...
      - taejavu 5mo ago
        Yes, drought often results in the death of livestock.
AngryData 5mo ago
That largely depends on where the alfalfa is grown. A lot of the alfalfa grown in deserts is shipped as combination ballast weight for leaving cargo ships and to feed foreign cows and not used for domestic cattle. While nobody around or east of the Great Lakes irrigates alfalfa and is essentially a free product requiring no pesticides and no fertilizer and even adds extra nitrogen fertilizer to the soil. It is just plant, cut, and bail and is otherwise basically a wonder crop for sustainable agriculture anywhere that gets rain once a month or more.

taejavu 5mo ago

The vast majority of cattle are raised in a pasture and eat grass, even those labeled “grain fed”. Grain fed just means they spend some time (e.g. 30 days) in a feed lot. I hadn’t heard about cows eating alfalfa though, where is that happening? Wouldn’t it be more valuable to sell it to people instead of using it as feed?

YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
Grass takes lots of water to grow.
- taejavu 5mo ago
  That water is free. It’s called rain.
  - velvetfoxtrot 5mo ago
    Sort of. It has the opportunity cost of the forests we cleared for it.
  - YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
    So when there is no rain you let the cattle die? Feed on other people's land? By that logic even server's water can come from rain. > Around 14 percent of the 3 670 km3 of freshwater withdrawn each year for the irrigation of crops and pasture is allocated to produce feed items for livestock [1]: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a7f92713-890a-4ff8-85ae-eb2aa76ae702/content/state-of-the-worlds-land-and-water-resources-for-food-and-agriculture-2025-2025/technical-options-pastureland-feed-production.html#gsc.tab=0 https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a7f...
    - taejavu 5mo ago
      Yes, drought often results in the death of livestock.

AngryData 5mo ago

That largely depends on where the alfalfa is grown. A lot of the alfalfa grown in deserts is shipped as combination ballast weight for leaving cargo ships and to feed foreign cows and not used for domestic cattle. While nobody around or east of the Great Lakes irrigates alfalfa and is essentially a free product requiring no pesticides and no fertilizer and even adds extra nitrogen fertilizer to the soil. It is just plant, cut, and bail and is otherwise basically a wonder crop for sustainable agriculture anywhere that gets rain once a month or more.