Buffalo - Planet Earth

Less than 1,000 years ago, 60 million buffalo roamed the United States. The population was driven down to a few thousand and today numbers fewer than 100,000. This got me thinking about livestock populations, specifically cattle populations, which, in some ways, have filled the hooves of missing buffalo insofar as our food system goes. From the cattle population link above, we learn that the US ranks 4th after India, Brazil & China for cattle population with about 10% or roughly 97 million cattle.

I also found this Cornell article from 1997 about the economy of livestock, energy, water and our future. Again, from the wikipedia link above, I discovered that cattle are reported to be responsible for about 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, globally.

I'm particularly interested in the impact on buffalo populations on grass, which is discussed in the same section of Planet Earth, as well as the impact on this transition on corn consumption (also a grass). This loops back into my interest in agricultural substitution or supplement with SMS or spent mushroom substrate, given appropriate inputs, for cattle feed or TMR. NDSU has an interesting article on feeding corn to beef cattle, specifically with respect to available protein from the total mixed ration components.