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Lesson 4

Where Do We Get Our Protein?

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Review:

Where do students in our class primarily get their protein from?

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Where does our class usually get their proteins from?

How much meat would our class eat in a week?
How much meat would our class eat in a month?
How much meat would our class eat in a year?
How much meat do you think is eaten in the US every year?
How much meat do you think is eaten worldwide every year?

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Many Proteins Come from Animals

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Beef comes from Cows

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We call cows that we raise for beef “Beef Cattle”

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Take a Guess…

How many beef cattle are raised in the U.S. every year?

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Cows require land, food, and water before they become beef

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Take a Guess…

How much water does it take to raise one pound of beef?

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It takes 1,800 gallons of water!

To produce one pound of beef is 1,800 gallons of water; one pound of pork takes 718 gallons of water.

As a comparison, the water footprint of soybeans is 206 gallons; corn is 108 gallons.

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Beef’s Water Footprint

Read: https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/water-footprint-beef-industrial-pasture/

Discuss with your group:

Why does beef use so much water?
What are some of the water footprint issues with raising beef cattle?

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The Contiguous United States takes up ~1.9 Billion Acres of Land

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Take a Guess…

What percentage of land in the contiguous U.S. is used for

cattle pasture and for growing crops to feed cattle?

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41%! The largest use of land in the U.S.

That’s 654 million acres (33%) for pasture and 125 million acres (8%) for growing crops to produce feed.

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Wrap Up

How do you think the land and water used in raising cattle affects the environment?

Journal in your own words.