Livestock is refers to domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting: to produce commodities such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool.
It refers to farmed ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, pigs and goats.
Horses are considered livestock in the United States.
Poultry and fish are not included.
The breeding, maintenance, and slaughter of livestock, is known as animal husbandry.
Livestock farming practices have shifted to intensive animal farming.
This type of farming is referred to as “factory farming”.
Over 99% of livestock in the US are now raised by factory farming.
Such intensive animal farming increases the yield of products, but has also led to negative impacts on animal welfare, the environment, and public health.
Livestock, especially beef, dairy and sheep stocks, have greater influence on greenhouse gas emissions than from agriculture.
Good husbandry, proper feeding, and hygiene contribute to animal health on the farm.
Antibiotics were routinely added to certain compound foodstuffs to promote growth, but this practice has been eliminated in many countries because of the risk that it may lead to antibiotic resistance.
Animals living under intensive conditions are particularly prone to internal and external parasites: reducing the parasite burdens of livestock results in increased productivity and profitability.
Livestock diseases are expected to get worse as climate change increases.
Mean greenhouse gas emissions for different food types:
g CO2-Ceq per G protein
Ruminant meat 62
Recirculating Aquaculture 30
Trawling Fishery 26
Non-recirculating Aquaculture 12
Pork 10
Poultry 10
Dairy 9.1
Non-trawling Fishery 8.6
Eggs 6.8
Starchy Roots 1.7
Wheat 1.2
Maize 1.2
Legumes 0.25
Animal husbandry is responsible for somewhere between 20 and 33% of the fresh water usage in the world.
Livestock, and the production of feed for them, occupy about a third of the earth’s ice-free land.
Livestock contributes to species extinction, desertification, and habitat destruction.
Animal agriculture contributes to species extinction: habitat is destroyed by clearing forests and converting land to grow feed crops and for animal grazing, while predators and herbivores are frequently targeted and hunted because of a perceived threat to livestock.
Animal husbandry is responsible for up to 91% of the deforestation in the Amazon region.
Agriculture, including not only livestock, but also food crop, biofuel and other production accounts for about 10 to 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Cows produce some 570 million cubic metres of methane per day.
Cow production of methane accounts for from 35 to 40% of the overall methane emissions of the planet.
Livestock is responsible for 65% of all emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.
Livestock provides food and nonfood products; leather, wool, pharmaceuticals, bone products, industrial protein, fats, manure, and are used as draft stock for tillage and other on-farm use, but also for transport of people and goods.
Livestock production serves as a source of income, for rural families, often serving as a major contributor to food security and economic security.