Beef

Beef is the soul of cooking. Anon

Roast beef, medium, is not only a food. It is a philosophy. Edna Ferber

The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne. Samuel Johnson

So yes, at least some people would miss it.

What is beef?

• Beef is the flesh of Bos taurus or Bos indicus. Collectively, these animals are called cattle. Females are called cows and males are called bulls. Newborns are referred to as calves.
• Calves are initially fed on milk from their mothers then weaned onto solid food.
• Estimates of 1 billion cattle in the world in  2024.
• Cattle are naturally grazing herbivores, feeding on grass primarily. Some cattle are fed grains by humans in feedlot buildings or paddocks.
• Adult cattle vary in weight from 250 kg to 1200 kg depending on age, sex and breed.
• Cattle are raised for dairy and leather commodities as well as meat. There are hundreds of breeds of cattle, created by cross-breeding. This may be done to maximise their qualities for a particular product and/or to thrive in a given landscape/location.
• Beef is prized by many as an excellent source of protein and of minerals, particularly iron.

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Cattle environmental requirements

Temperature range tolerances

Scottish Highland cattle can withstand temperatures down to -27 °C without supplemental feeding as they have a double coat of hair insulation to maintain their core temperature.
Brahman cattle are well adapted to withstand high temperatures, showing little effect from temperatures up to and beyond 40 °C.
Most cattle do best in temperature ranges of 10 - 20 °C.
Availability of shade is important for cattle to be able to thermoregulate.

Quality of feed and supplementation

As grazing herbivores, cattle require pasture growing suitable plants to eat. Not all forage is equally nutritious. some pastures may have an overabundance of plants which can harm cattle browsing on them e.g. bloat from certain legumes¹, prussic acid poisoning¹. Even if adult cattle are surviving on inadequate feed, the death of calves may result due to poor nutrition of the mother²
Often artificial additives are provided by human intervention. These usually take the form of salt licks. Licks with different combinations can made/purchased to suit varying pasture conditions. Table below show macronutrients, micronutrients and vitamins commonly present in supplements.³

Macronutrient	Micronutrient	Vitamin
Calcium	Cobalt	A
Phosphorus	Copper	D
Chlorine	Iodine	E
Magnesium	Iron
Potassium	Manganese
Sodium	Selenium
Sulphur	Zinc

Water needs

Global animal production requires about 2422 Gm ³ of water per year. Raising beef cattle accounts for about 1/3 of this amount.⁴

Livestock type	Peak demand Litre per head per day	Daily average Litre per head per day	Annual consumption Litre per head
Dry cattle	100	80	292,000
Lactating cattle	120	100	365,000
Weaners	70	55	201,000

Source: How much water do my cattle require?⁵

Water needs are dependant on

• breed
• type
• age
• weight
• temperature and humidity
• feed type
• distances stock are walking
• availability of shade
• quality and temperature of the water

 

Diseases of cattle and climate change

Cattle can be attacked by viruses, bacteria and a range of invertebrate animals. These cause suffering to the cattle, failure to thrive and can decrease the fertility rate of a herd. A list of common cattle disease can be found at https://www.cattletoday.info/

What’s even more worrying is that there could be a dangerous feedback loop between climate change, parasitic diseases, and higher methane emissions: Animals infected with parasitic worms and bacteria push out more methane over the course of their lives, which accelerates climate change. Parasites that infect livestock can thrive in warmer temperatures, infecting even more animals, and then the vicious cycle continues.⁶

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What can we do about it?

Before discussing the ways that we the could use to stop beef disappearing from our diet there are some factors that should be laid out.

Cattle burp and fart methane which is a potent greenhouse gas. Methane is shorter lived than CO2 but 25 times more effective at warming the earth.7 Adult cattle can produce 250 to 500 litres of methane a day.
Beef production is energy inefficient8
Production of beef is water intensive.8
Raising beef takes up a lot of land. 50% of the world’s habitable (ice- and desert-free) land is taken up with agriculture. Of that, a sizeable proportion is allocated to cattle raising. This may be for direct feeding via foraging or land set aside to grow crops to feed cattle.

Sustainability solutions

Manage cattle better

Examples

• lessen pasture requirements through better pasture management techniques
• change how we provide fodder for cattle
• the amount of GHGs cows produce  e.g. seaweed additives in feed may cut emissions significantly⁹

An extended, detailed list of how management decisions can make beef more sustainable can be found at https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/climate-change/climate-change-and-broadacre-livestock-production

Change our behaviour

• Eat less beef and seek alternative meat products such as pork or chicken.¹⁰
• Eat insects as a protein source, either as cooked insects or as protein powder.¹¹
• Eat synthetic meat made from plants.¹² ,¹³
  

  Analysts at UK bank Barclays predict the global spend on plant-based meats will hit 10 per cent of a $1.4 trillion global meat market by 2029, up from less than 1 per cent in 2019.¹⁴

• Eat beef that has been grown in a lab via cell culture.¹⁵,¹⁶

Acknowledgement of issues not covered on this page

The social effects of change for small farm-holders, the politics of the producer countries, exploitation of manual workers

Information starting points for more information about political aspects of beef.

• Inside the Race to Build the Burger of the Future¹⁷
• Meat Wars: Why Biden Wants To Break Up The Powerful US Beef Industry | Meat Industry¹⁸
  

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Bonus: The journey from animal to commodity

Cattle may be slaughtered on farm or in slaughterhouses.

Most countries have laws governing the method of killing animals, covering sanitation and animal cruelty concerns.

Methods of slaughter are determined by religious beliefs in some countries.

Generally

• The animal is stunned into unconsciousness.
• The bodies are hung from a rail by hooks.
• The unconscious animal is killed by exsanguination.
• The head of the animal is removed, as are the feet.
•  The skin is removed
• Evisceration is carried out.
• The carcasses are commonly cut into two vertically using a form of chain saw.
• They they are placed in a cool room for 24 to 48 hours, after which they may be cut into commercial portions.
• The cuts of meat are then distributed to retail outlets in refrigerated vans.
• They are packaged in plastic or vacuum sealed for handling purposes.