CATTLE

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Look for Pasture for Life AND Organic certifications. Consider the Farm Wilder group, especially those farms with the RSPCA Fair to Nature Standard.

    Note: In some specific contexts, farmers won’t be able to meet the 100% pasture-fed standard, even if it is their aim. We support producers that face contextual barriers to this standard: see farm highlights below.

  • High-density, frequently moved cattle boosts biodiversity and grass growth whilst maximising the number of livestock supported by the land.

  • Integrating trees into pasture supports biodiversity, sequesters carbon and provides shelter, improving both welfare and meat quality.

  • Mixed farming systems can help build fertility and support regeneration.

  • Everything above applies to dairy sourcing too! Also, seek out 100% grass-fed ex-dairy cows for their meat as well as their milk.

  • If you serve prime cut steaks on one menu, then serve slow-cooking cuts on the next. Always include offal throughout the year.

Cattle Deep Dive

Cattle are ruminants, which means they have a four-chambered stomach that can digest grass and other coarse vegetation that humans can’t. Historically, people have used cattle for 2 main reasons:

  1. Producing meat and dairy on land that can’t sustain vegetable or grain production, and

  2. To re-fertilise land that has been used for arable or horticultural production.

When it comes to climate change and livestock farming, cattle farming is probably the most contentious issue. The debate tends to come down to the issue of methane – a greenhouse gas 28x more potent than carbon dioxide. All ruminant mammals produce methane as a consequence of their digestive systems, and the more cows there are, the more methane is produced. Read more about the methane issue back on the Meat main page.

In addition, demand for imported feed for industrial cattle directly contributes to deforestation, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and issues of food justice in the global south, where vast areas of land are used to grow huge agrochemical-heavy monocultures of animal feed instead of food for people.

Some argue that these two things mean that cattle farming can never be sustainable.

Others argue that cattle farmed in a certain (de-industrialised) way using particular grazing techniques can be ecologically beneficial and even reverse climate change through carbon sequestration.

A recent in-depth report by Food Climate Research concluded that, whilst better grazing management is worthwhile, and livestock farming can be both ecologically and socially beneficial, soil carbon sequestration from grazing does not offer a substantial climate change mitigation opportunity.

We have to accept that cattle farming cannot be used as a  strategy to reverse climate change. Only then can we start to look at the reasons why we might still choose to farm cattle as part of a larger picture of sustainability, and find the most agroecological ways to do so.

Crucially, the report also states that poor grazing management (or conversion to arable cultivation) of existing grassland presents a very high climate risk. This means that although promoting good grazing on grassland can’t reverse climate change, it is still critical for preventing further climate breakdown. Making agroecological cattle farming an important part of the picture for climate sustainability, but not a tool for reversal.

The bottom line is:

less meat, Better Meat, More Plants.

Pasture-Fed Beef

The industrial cattle industry relies heavily on imported grain feed, ryegrass monocultures sprayed with fertiliser (to produce silage), and high use of medication to combat crowded conditions. This high-input, indoor system creates toxic slurry that is sprayed onto fields at great labour cost, whilst producing environmentally damaging runoff and potentially high concentrations of methane emissions.

Returning cattle to a 100% plant forage diet (i.e. pasture/grass feeding them) puts the animal back into a boundaried relationship with the land, and resource-use back into the stewardship of the farmer. This makes it possible for farmers to lower inputs and manage the ecological role of their cattle (nutrient cycling between plants and soil) with minimal risk of runoff.

The Pasture for Life certification is a good place to start because it guarantees that livestock haven’t been fed any grain or manufactured feeds. It also ensures rotational grazing practices and promotes diverse species rich pastures, as well as requiring that Farm Assurance Standards are met and Organic standards encouraged. The Nature Friendly Farming Network is another organisation that could help connect us with farmers following agroecological principles. Farms with the RSPCA Fair to Nature Standard are great. In the Southwest of England, Farm Wilder also offers meat from systems that align closely with agroecological principles.

Key Benefits of Pasture for Life:

  • NO HUMAN FOOD FED TO CATTLE

Grain requires a lot of resources and can only effectively be grown on prime, fertile, flat land. Feeding human edible crops to animals is a highly inefficient form of land use. This ‘food-feed competition’ contributes to food insecurity; feeding cattle pasture reduces food-feed competition.

  • NO FUTURE DEFORESTATION RISK OR “GHOST ACRES” 

Animal feed is often tied to deforestation or ryegrass monocultures set aside for silage. Pasture-fed cows only require the land they’re already living on and can play a role in either protecting species rich grasslands, or introducing more trees into the landscape (silvopasture).

Higher in total omega-3 fatty acids (good fats) and with a richer ‘beefier’ flavour.

Diverse pasture and frequent rotation can support and encourage complex ecosystems.

  • SOIL ORGANIC CARBON RESTORATION  

Where soil organic carbon (SOC) is depleted, good grazing management can help restore it, and where grazing prevents ploughing, it helps prevent SOC re-escaping. However, it’s important to remember livestock carbon sequestration isn’t a long-term climate mitigation strategy. 

  • HYPERLOCAL SYSTEM

Pasture For Life encourages the use of small, local abattoirs butchers and suppliers, whilst eliminating imported feed. 

Remember

The key part of pasture fed beef is that the herd is at pasture for all of its life: if cattle are finished on grain (as many are), many of these benefits are lost.

The Pasture For Life Certification doesn’t totally prohibit fertilisers, herbicides or chemicals so pair this certification with Organic.

Silvopasture and mob grazing systems can both address some of the unresolved issues around land use and methane emissions that Pasture for Life standards can leave open. Mob grazing can increase the amount of meat produced per hectare, and increasing tree cover through silvopasture provides scope to further reduce the climate impact of cattle farming.

Mob Grazier - Tom Chapman farm highlight

Tom Chapman, of St Paul’s Walden Bury Estate, is a mob grazing enthusiast. Unlike conventional “set stocking” or “rotational grazing” (which can often be ecologically harmful), mob grazing mimics how wild herbivores live and move over grassland in the wild, by keeping herds in high-density on small paddocks, and moving them very frequently (often every day!). 

This system gives grazed land a proper chance to recover, allowing plants to flower and complete their life cycles. The result is an increase in sward yield and insect life, from which the rest of ecological diversity can follow. For Tom, the motto is: “land teeming with life, land teaming with life”.

Seeing the land he grazes as turned over to wildlife, while still producing food effectively, Tom is passionate about the link between healthy, nutritious soils, and healthy, nutrient-dense foods. Managing the estate’s herd of 70 Sussex beef suckler cows, Tom has guided the transition from “set stocking” (by September each year they were usually running out of grass and had to feed silage) to mob grazing, greatly improving the pasture condition.


Moving the herd onto tall fresh forage every day gives cattle access to the highest quality forage and maximises their intake. It also evenly distributes cow manure on the land and minimises patchy overgrazing, whilst returning trampled organic matter to the soil, all of which encourages an active ecosystem.  

Tom’s aim is to produce 100% grass-fed beef without any fertiliser, while using mob grazing to improve soil health, drainage, water holding capacity and biodiversity. Sadly, food system regulations require additional expenses in testing and travel for cattle older than 30 months. Therefore, Tom is not always able to get his cattle to finishing weight in time on grass alone – sometimes this can take as long as 36 months. In order to keep his enterprise viable, he must therefore sometimes sell his cattle to be finished on grain in time. This is a major flaw in current food system regulations and market standards, as Tom would rather maintain a totally grass-fed herd; reviewing these standards would help more farmers achieve the Pasture for Life certification.


Mixed farming and multispecies grazing

Mixed farming enables food to be produced on land that has been otherwise put down to “rest” in a fertility building phase, and helps arable and vegetable farmers stop using chemical inputs. The addition of animals also increases a farm’s enterprise resilience by adding product diversity. Taking it a step further, grazing cattle alongside other animals on a mixed farm can maximise land use efficiency even more. In a combined sheep-cow paddock, for instance, cows ‘top’ the forage, whereas sheep browse down to the ground. This utilises sheep’s ability to gain weight on limited pasture, whilst giving cows excellent forage and allowing them to trample, all-in-all maximising meat production per acre. Read more about this on our Farming Practices Deep Dive back on the main livestock page.

The farm highlight below has been used with the permission of Pasture For Life from their Biodiversity case studies.

Park House Farm is made up of 350 acres of permanent pasture, ancient woodland and wooded pasture. Mark and Jen Lee have 220 Jersey x Friesian cows and followers on a spring block calving system and are both Organic and Pasture for Life certified. The farm produces cheese and gelato which is sold direct to the public and through retailers.

Regenerating existing woodlands, getting more trees and wildlife corridors onto the land and developing a silvopasture system are all key for the Lees. On the farm are stretches of ancient woodland that line the Cockshot Beck river, the majority of it is native Oak, Ash, Sycamore and Willow with additional species of black Walnut, Poplar, Alder and Beam planted in recent years. 

Their fields are a multi-species mix of grasses, clovers and other legumes which are essential to fix the nitrogen in their chemical free system. No artificial or chemical inputs have been applied to the soil for the last 6 years, resulting in a huge increase in dung beetle activity. To encourage biodiversity they mob graze the cows, maintaining at least 40 days between grazings to allow complete regeneration of the sward.

4km of native hedgerows have been planted to split larger fields into smaller grazing paddocks and interconnect the blocks of woodland throughout the farm.

Silvopasture - Park House Farm Highlight

The Lees  have begun a wooded pasture project which should cover over 100 acres, creating habitat for multiple species. Field corners have been fenced off and several large scrapes and ponds have been dug to encourage some wetland bird and reptile species to thrive on the farm. The increase in tree cover is part of a long-term strategy to reduce the heat on the cattle, pigs and soil over the summer and provide shelter during the winter months. 

It makes sense to the Lees to feed the cows what they already grew on the farm (rather than inputs like grain) and also to provide as much diversity as possible so that the herd can choose what to eat. Adopting this approach has made them think more clearly about what their herd needs to be healthy. In turn this has made them want to try and graze the cows all year around, which further drives the wooded pasture plans.

Before committing to being 100% pasture-fed they were told it would have a negative effect on animal health and farm profitability and that it wasn’t possible this far north. They are the only certified dairy herd in Cumbria at the moment and believe it is important that they can show that this way of farming is both sustainable and profitable. What they have discovered is an improvement in herd health and a very significant reduction in their costs of production, simplifying the system for both cows and humans.