The role and contributions of animals in alternative agricultural systems
Livestock are important components of agricultural systems. In the U.S., one-half of total agricultural receipts come from the sale of livestock. They are the harvestors of range plants, forages, and crop residues; they level out the effects of the seasonally and variability of rainfall; they cushion disruptions in the trade and marketing of feed grains; they counteract declining soil fertility and soil erosion; and they contribute to the efficient year-round use of farm labor. Unfortunately, farmers are often not inclined to adopt alternative animal agriculture systems despite the advantages they may offer. Constraints that may be encountered include possibilities of reduced short-term profits, difficulties in adapting available technology to alternative farming systems, difficulties in shifting from specialized crop or livestock farms to crop/livestock farms, and the increased needs for labor and management. Some actions needed in the U.S. to improve livestock production in alternative farming systems are: the establishment of government policies to promote the shift of marginal lands to soil and water conserving crops and the incorporation of pastures and forages in crop rotations; research to improve the utilization by ruminants of ligno-cellulosic feeds (pastures, forages, crop residues); and programs to improve range and forest management and to lead to the development of systems that optimize the use of forages for the production of nutritionally desirable lean beef.
Ecology and vegetarian considerations: does environmental responsibility demand the elimination of livestock?
Although the recommendation to avoid animal flesh for environmental reasons has been increasingly advanced, especially in the highly industrialized countries, the ecological implications of such avoidance are seldom carefully examined. If sustainable food systems are to be modeled after natural systems that maintain fertility, both plants and animals would be involved. This paper examines the history of the idea that environmental responsibility is linked to vegetarianism and the destructive effects of present methods of animal raising on farmers, animal welfare, and the environment. Finally, it explores the question of whether vegetarianism is the appropriate response to these problems.
Discerned fragments in feces indicates diet overlap.
were caught on the chained area than either the untreated or burned areas. At Lofgreen No. 1, deer mice indicated a preference for windrows, but not scattered slash, or they avoided open areas between windrows. At Lofgreen No. 2 in the 1st year after treatment and at Boulter and Birch Canyon, where treatments had occurred 3 or more years before sampling, no effect of windrows was apparent. The few pocket mice caught showed no preference for treatment except on the Benmore strips in 1968, when more were caught in the scattered slash of the chained-two-ways strip. Voles showed a strong preference for heavy cover. Thirty-four of 37 long-tailed voles caught in all areas were caught adjacent to windrows, and one was caught in a chained area having heavy cover. These microtines are characteristically found in heavy brush-grass cover but not in typical “bare ground and juniper” sites. It seems quite clear that piling trees creates vole habitat. A study of rodent response to juniper removal and range seeding was reported by Turkowski and Reynolds (1970). They found from 1.2 to 4.0 times as many rodents on treated areas as on untreated plots, but trapping did not start until 3 years after treatment. Thus, a peak population such as we found in the 2nd year would have been missed in their study.