Miles Per Gallon And Cattle
An animal scientist from Washington State University is invited to explain her idea of sustainability at the Denver Cattle Feeds Summit, I’m Susan Allen stay tuned for Open Range. Who defines sustainability, a small organic farmer on a plot of land bought a few years back who typically sells to a high end niche market or a rancher that runs cattle on the vast allotment homesteaded by great-great grandparents generations ago? Well that was the topic Dr. Jude Capper a Washington State University animal scientist tackled at the recent Cattle Feeders Business Summit in Denver and she used something so simple as miles per gallon to prove her point. She told the group to “consider two vehicles, one that gets 35 miles per gallon, another five per gallon. Over a 500 mile trip, vehicle A burns 14.3 gallons of fuel, while Vehicle “B” burns 100. On the surface vehicle A appears to be more efficient but what if Vehicle B (a passenger bus) carries 50 people verses the four in vehicle A, a car? Capper went to explain that Vehicle B is more efficient and sustainable from a fuel –use standpoint and told the group the same analogy holds true for beef producers. In 1977 it took five animals to produce the same volume of beef as only four did in 2007while using less water, feed and producing twenty percent less manure. Tomorrow Dr. Capper takes on misleading facts environmental groups use against the beef industry.
