Raising Livestock For Slaughter Essay

Raising livestock for slaughter has been a long used practice throughout the world for centuries, and with growing populations of people, the livestock industry has had to greatly increase production. In order to meet demand, they have been trying different techniques to raise their animals faster, making them fatter at a younger age. This has been done by replacing more natural feeds such as grasses and legumes with foods like grain and corn. This fattens the animals quickly, and quickens the production time. Animals fed this diet are part of a feedlot. A feedlot is typically a building where livestock are fattened, and have less space to roam and little to no access to wild growing grasses and legumes. They are typically fed grain and corn based diets, while pasture raised livestock have access to the outdoors, eat live growing grasses, and have more room to move and exercise.
In more recent years, however, more attention has been paid to how the animals are raised …show more content…
Pasture feeding has beneficial effects on n-3 fatty acids, notably eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3) and docasahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6n-3)” (Webb & Erasmus 2013). Unlike Martz, they go into detail about nutritional benefits of pasture raised beef, owing the difference in flavor that can sometimes occur to an increased presence of fatty acids. They also explain the reason for slower growth, stating grass fed livestock are typically not given growth hormones or concentrate feed, leaving them with only some mineral, energy, and protein supplements. These supplements do not increase growth rate as well as hormones and concentrates