Jason Warner, extension cow-calf specialist
The term “sustainability” has been used a lot in recent years in nearly every industry. It seems that it has become more common for companies and organizations to have a claim that a product or service has been produced “sustainably”, and this usually is in reference to the environment. Keeping in mind the environmental impact on how goods are produced and working to better understand and subsequently minimize our footprint on the environment is certainly a good thing for society. However, when the word “sustainability” is used, our minds often default to think only of the environmental aspect and with beef cattle production systems this is typically methane emissions. Methane, as a by-product of rumen fermentation, has been frequently discussed within the context of improving environmental “sustainability” of beef production systems because it 1) represents an energetic loss and 2) the cow-calf level is the segment in which the largest potential positive impact can be made.
While measuring and taking steps to mitigate methane emissions is important, we should remember that “sustainability” means different things to different people and that there are various components to it including social and economic. Specific to cow-calf production systems, “sustainability” also means doing the following: having a grazing management plan in place to maintain and improve rangeland and pasture health, being good stewards of other land and water resources, managing for optimal reproduction, using proper selection tools to make genetic progress, being financially sound, and ultimately ensuring that a future generation has an opportunity to be caretakers for these resources. Agriculturalists have historically been models of “sustainability”, but we need to remember all the ways it can be evaluated as we communicate our story to consumers.
