Most people will tell you that eating beef is unsustainable.
For years, cows & fat have been vilified, with red meat being blamed for not only for causing cancer & heart disease, but also ruining our planet.
As we discovered in last month’s article entitled “Is the Carnivore Diet good for you?” this is simply not the case. Recent research conducted by the Journal of American Cardiologists has shown that saturated fats & organ meats are everything your body needs to survive and thrive.
But what about raising grass fed beef to regenerate land?
Starting Steak Club in 2016, began a transformational journey for me. It has led me to study permaculture, travel the world to look at best practices, and beginning this Spring, starting Adam Grows EDEN to provide Regenerative Agriculture services to regenerative land & people.
The purpose of this blog article is to demonstrate how current practices of raising beef are unsustainable and prove to you that raising grass-fed beef can not only be sustainable, but a solution to the world’s ecological crisis.
The Problem: Why is Eating Beef Unsustainable?
Vegans, Bill Gates and the big agricultural companies will all tell you that eating a plant-based diet will help solve the climate crisis (we will explain why this is a bad idea later on).
Cows and the growing demand for meat are blamed as the main culprit.
If you look at how livestock is currently raised it is undoubtedly unsustainable.
Known as fixed stocking, cows are left on pasture, rarely moved, resulting in overgrazing, soil compaction and net topsoil loss.
This is by far the most used cow-rearing system on the planet, with practically 98% of cattle operations using this method.
Add to this that:
– 80% of arable land is used to grow livestock feed for factory farms
– the concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s) that spread disease
– the antibiotics given to animals spending too much time in their own faeces
– the methane coming out of these operations.
With this picture, I can understand why many people choose to go vegan.
But they forget something important.
It is not the what that is to blame, but the how.
The Solution: How to Raise Grass Fed Beef Sustainably
The solution?
Mob stocking or mixed livestock rotation, is far more productive than continuous grazing.
Cows eat forage and are moved daily, taking 5 minutes a day to move.
And that’s the only real difference. Move your cows everyday!!!
It’s up to the rancher to lay out a portable electric fence to encourage cows to behave like they do in nature – moving around in herds.
Known as the 3 M’s or Moving, Mobbing, and Mowing, cows herd together, and are moved from paddock to paddock every day.
If you don’t do this, then an asset turns into a liability, and 98% of domesticated herbivores violate one of these three key principles.
This is why cows rearing is currently totally unsustainable.
It is how you raise your livestock.
People forget that animals have evolved for millions of years to perform a specific set of functions in nature.
The ruminant/grassland system is estimated to be around 100 million years old.
The problem is that the current agriculture system prefers fixed stocking & feedlots vs. trying to recreate a cow’s natural habitat.
Mob grazing (or strip grazing) turns grasslands from annual to perennial grasses. When cows herd as they’re supposed to, they will graze all plants (including weeds) , unlike fixed stocking which causes overgrazing.
Wait 4 days after cows graze a paddock (always measure when dung beetles are done & flies hatch), then run chickens behind them.
They will scratch up cow patties, eat fly larvae, insects and worms. No more deworming your cows, no more flies and you’ve turned a waste stream into eggs (there is more animal protein per insect than meat or milk).
Of course there are a few more things one must do. This includes resting paddocks until grass growth has recovered, supplying 100 liters a day of water per cow per day, a mineral lick and them most important thing as a farmer, a permanent electric border fence
The last thing you want is your animals getting out.
What are the benefits of Grass-Fed, Pasture-Raised Beef?
By turning a liability into a net positive, cows can genuinely save the planet.
Seriously.
How to raise grass fed beef to regenerate land?
Grasslands need proper grazing to turn soil into a carbon sink, adding carbon at far 150% greater than than temperate forests.
For example, Joel Salatin can have 5 times more cows on his land than his county average (80 cows/acre vs. 400 cows/acre!!!)
But what about methane? When you have pasture with perennial grasses (instead of annual plants), the soil contains methanotrophic bacteria. This bacteria sucks up any excess methane, able to handle around 2500 cows per ha (this is obviously far more than would be necessary).
The key is how you raise cattle. The next time you get attacked by a vegan, remind them that it’s not the what but the how. Monoculture fields of vegetables are just as bad as factory farms..
I hope this blog post has shown you that raising livestock can regenerate our grasslands.
And remember this fact, that 2/3 of land is unsuitable for crop systems.
It can feed our planet, repair degraded landscape.
Where can I learn more?
At the end of every article, I like to list our sources.
Regenerative Ranching Playlist | Adam Grows EDEN
Regenerative Agriculture Playlist | Adam Grows EDEN
It’s taken many mistakes and years to get to this point in the business…but finally, we’re currently looking for investors, to buy land, raise our own cows, and repair landscapes with holistic grazing.
You can visit one of our websites related to Regenerative Agriculture at
or for non-profit & NGO’s
Do you have any questions?
Either get in contact with us, or sign-up to the newsletter on the footer, to get invites to barbecues at farms we will be working to turn to regenerative practices..
