Raising livestock for meat, dairy, and eggs requires vast expanses of land globally. The specific type of land used varies dramatically depending on the species, life cycle stage, and farming system employed. Understanding this classification is fundamental to grasping modern food production systems. The land supporting livestock can be categorized into areas where animals graze directly, sites for animal concentration, and agricultural fields dedicated to producing feed.
Rangeland and Extensive Grazing
Rangeland represents a significant portion of the Earth’s terrestrial surface, often consisting of natural, uncultivated land unsuitable for traditional crop farming. These areas are primarily characterized by native grasses, shrubs, and forbs that have not been seeded, fertilized, or irrigated. Rangelands, which include steppes and savannas, cover between 40 and 50 percent of the world’s land area and are utilized for extensive grazing.
This system involves low animal density, allowing livestock, typically cattle and sheep, to roam over large territories to forage. Management focuses on controlling the number of animals, known as the stocking rate, to prevent overgrazing. Rangelands are frequently found in arid and semi-arid regions where rainfall is insufficient for intensive agricultural practices, requiring management to prioritize the long-term health of the soil and plant communities.
Cultivated Pastures and Managed Grazing
In contrast to rangeland, pastures are tracts of land actively improved and intensively managed to optimize forage production for grazing livestock. This land is often seeded with specific domesticated forage crops like alfalfa or clover, and frequently benefits from fertilization and sometimes irrigation. Pastures are generally located in areas with more fertile soil and higher rainfall, making them amenable to these agricultural improvements.
The management system typically uses managed or rotational grazing, which involves dividing the land into smaller paddocks. Animals are moved systematically between these paddocks, allowing the grazed forage to recover fully before the livestock return. This intensive management permits a significantly higher animal density compared to rangeland, as the sustained productivity of the land is maintained through agronomic practices.
Land Supporting Confined Animal Operations
A distinct category of land use is associated with high-density animal housing, formally known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). This land is highly specialized to accommodate the confinement of large numbers of animals, such as beef cattle in feedlots or hogs and poultry in large-scale barns, and is not used for grazing. The physical footprint of a CAFO includes the housing structures themselves, along with specialized infrastructure for waste management.
This infrastructure includes large storage facilities, such as wastewater lagoons, which collect the substantial volume of manure and wash water generated by the confined animals. The land’s use is further expanded by the necessity of applying this manure and wastewater as fertilizer to surrounding agricultural fields. The sheer volume of waste means that large tracts of cropland, often within about 16 kilometers of the facility, are required for proper nutrient dispersal to prevent contamination of local water sources.
Cropland Dedicated to Livestock Feed
Beyond the land used for grazing or housing the animals, a vast amount of prime agricultural cropland is indirectly dedicated to livestock production. This land is used to grow feed ingredients that support animals in CAFOs and supplement those on pastures. Global data indicates that approximately 38% of the world’s cropland is utilized to produce feed for livestock, rather than for direct human consumption. The majority of this cropland is planted with high-energy feedstuffs like corn, soy, and various grains. When this indirect land use is combined with grazing lands, the total agricultural land footprint for livestock production accounts for roughly 80% of all agricultural land globally.