Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ruminants
Most recents (7)
The theme for #WorldEnvironmentDay2022 is "Only One Earth." Let's consider the essential role that #ruminants play in global food production and the unique ecological advantages they offer. First, what's a ruminant?
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The vast majority of our one Earth's surface is unsuited for the production of plant source foods. But it can produce plant fiber that ruminant animals are uniquely capable of using - converting a resource humans cannot utilize into food of highest nutritive quality.
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Ruminant production systems can *share* the environments where they're managed w/ existing vegetation & wildlife. Plant source food production requires some degree of ecosystem domination. Grassland ecosystems endangered by conversion to crop production.
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1/4 Preparing for next week...
So, per #ipccreport2021, the effect of enteric CH4 emissions from stable herds has been overstated (and CH4 from fossil fuels similarly underestimated).
IPCC. 2021. AR6. Ch 6 ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1… p 123 @FarmersDefence @GHGGuru @UCDavisCLEAR
So, per #ipccreport2021, the effect of enteric CH4 emissions from stable herds has been overstated (and CH4 from fossil fuels similarly underestimated).
IPCC. 2021. AR6. Ch 6 ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1… p 123 @FarmersDefence @GHGGuru @UCDavisCLEAR
2/4 And yet, even with this OVERESTIMATE, accounting emissions for the amount of foods needed to provide essential nutrients dramatically shifts the narrative. Now divide the beef or milk by 3...
@TyRBeal
@TyRBeal
3a & 3b/4 And the land footprint and water use shifts when the essential utilizable nutrients being supplied are considered. Metrics Matter!
Thread on #lysine #upcycling #ruminants
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Only 4% of the feed consumed by the global domestic ruminant herd is *potentially* human-utilizable. The upcycling of the other 96% into resources that are essential to modern (& future) societies is under-appreciated.
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Only 4% of the feed consumed by the global domestic ruminant herd is *potentially* human-utilizable. The upcycling of the other 96% into resources that are essential to modern (& future) societies is under-appreciated.
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Note:
- The grain fed represents only 10% of the global cereal production.
- 1/4 of the grain fed is off-grade & not human edible.
Source for this & previous slide.
Mottet, et al., (2018) cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Note:
- The grain fed represents only 10% of the global cereal production.
- 1/4 of the grain fed is off-grade & not human edible.
Source for this & previous slide.
Mottet, et al., (2018) cambridge.org/core/journals/…
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In the US, only 11% of the lifetime feed consumed by a commercial fed steer is *potentially* human-utilizable.
Rotz, et al., (2019) sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
In the US, only 11% of the lifetime feed consumed by a commercial fed steer is *potentially* human-utilizable.
Rotz, et al., (2019) sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Folks might be interested in this paper - sciencedirect.com…/artic…/pii/S0092867418309723
There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate in the human diet. #Ruminants, on the other hand (or hoof), have two: They must have both structural & nonstructural CHOs.
There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate in the human diet. #Ruminants, on the other hand (or hoof), have two: They must have both structural & nonstructural CHOs.
Another reason why #RuminantsRULE!
1/3 What the global #ruminant livestock herd eats. 95% is NOT edible by humans (1/4 of the "Grains" are not edible. We can discuss if the soy cakes should be... 😏🤠) The total grain consumed (4% of total) equates to just 10% of global cereal production...
2/3 Due to the fundamental difference between #ruminant and monogastric livestock (pregastric fermentation, fiber fermentation, etc), they are MORE efficient at "upcycling" - converting lower quality (in terms of nutritive value to humans) resources into food of highest quality.
3/3 Cattle (and all #ruminants) "contribute directly to global food security." Remember that the human-edible protein (& lipids, minerals, etc) the ruminant produces are of far higher quality (in terms of human nutrition) than the human-edible feedstuffs they consume.
Food for Thought (in 5 courses)
1) Photosynthesis is the production of carbohydrate & O2 from CO2 & H2O
1) Photosynthesis is the production of carbohydrate & O2 from CO2 & H2O
2) Cellulose & starch (both polysaccharides) differ in their bonds between the glucose units. No vertebrate make cellulase, the enzyme needed to cleave the bonds in cellulose. Thus we cannot directly utilize the most abundant carbohydrate in the biosphere.
3) Perhaps that's why most of the animals humanity has domesticate have been herbivores, with ruminants being the largest group. Their specialized digestion anatomy & their rumen microbial populations allow them to utilize high-fiber, low quality feedstuffs.
Food for Thought, in 4 courses: #Ruminants ingest a very low fat diet. Too much lipid in their diet is toxic to the rumen microbes, and PUFAs especially so. So biohydrogenation is a self-protective process that greatly benefits humans.
2) The conversion of fiber & other carbohydrate into fat is one of the #ruminants' essential ecological functions. Could it be that we'd be better off to let them (and their micobiome) do that for us?
3) But don't we *have* to have carbohydrate in our diets? Apparently not...
