Org Library Menu Beef. Cattle produce large amounts of manure, and much of that animal waste winds up in the U.S. water supply. In fact, animal droppings are important in maintaining water and mineral cycles on native rangeland.
Tests show that groundwater quality in leading cattle feeding regions remains good.
Management of feedlot surfaces, use of storage lagoons and holding ponds, and other management practices have helped prevent runoff and groundwater contamination problems. There are also recommended practices for spreading manure and waste water on agriculture land. It is fallacious to compare amounts of human and animal excrement. In the U.S., by far most human waste is immediately placed in water-borne sewage systems. Cattle feedlot waste, however, is deposited on soil or concrete surfaces where it undergoes a high degree of biodegradation before being applied to land for fertilizer purposes.