From Pasture to Plate and Back Again - How the Economics of Cattle Impact the Ecology of the Plains
Post by Clemson student Oliver Zerrillo For the vast majority of my time here in Montana when I thought of the word sustainability I was mostly considering it in an ecological context. Cattle ranching does indeed have a context in ecological sustainability, but the resource of cattle also has a second context, one that affects most people more directly in their daily lives, the context of economic sustainability. At first thought you might think that those in the beef business don't need to be overly concerned with the sustainability of their market, after all beef famously takes a central role in American cuisine. However the processes and pathway by which that meat makes it from the ranch to your kitchen is actually much more involved, with a number of players involved. The three main stops on the journey that we got to witness on this trip were; the ranch, stockering, and the feed lot. Each of these stops has influence on the others, and in turn all are influenced by the price o...
