Given the commitment and the will, livestock producers have the resources and knowledge to begin a transition to sustainability today. But until sustainable meat production can effectively compete with industrial producers, Texans also need strong environmental protections for air and water in the parts of the state where animal production is concentrated. The Industrial Process Feedlots are relatively simple operations. Animals eat food delivered directly to them and then defecate where they stand. Producers bring beef cattle to feedlots when they weigh approximately 500 pounds.
Operators use low dose antibiotics on a regular basis as a feed additive to enhance growth.
Meanwhile, crowded and unsanitary conditions lead to a high incidence of death and disease, so operators again use antibiotics in higher doses to combat diseases in the herd. This strategy fails to adequately address animal health concerns, since cattle operations in Texas still lose over half a million cattle and calves to death each year. Each animal that is fattened produces almost one ton of dry manure solids in an average 150- day feedlot cycle. Every few days a workman enters the pen and piles manure into the middle to discourage cattle from churning it up with their hooves. Contractors haul the manure to farmers, while wastewater runoff either evaporates or is piped over crops for irrigation.