The Need for a Ruminant Revolution
“10 years ago I was an obese, balding, pre-diabetic. Now I’m just balding.”
Dr. Peter Ballerstedt’s research took him full circle from his career in tech back to his earlier PhD in Forage Production and Utilization. This time he wasn’t looking for a career, he was trying to fix his own health problems.
Dr. Ballerstedt’s research on what we should be eating and what a truly nutritious and sustainable food supply looks like lead him back to his roots:
Ruminants.
For those not from an animal science background, ruminants (think: cattle, goats, sheep, etc.) are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. (wikipedia)
Through his quest to improve his own health, Dr. Ballerstedt has become an advocate for ruminant agriculture. He believes it’s time for a ruminant revolution.
There is little debate the the modern western diet includes too many carbohydrates. Diets like Atkins, Keto, Peleo, and many others all contain some form of limiting sugars, grains, and other carbohydrates. Note: these are all plant-based.
Dr. Ballerstedt is not a believer in eliminating all plant-based foods (he still eats some), but is convinced that limiting these carbohydrates is essential in an optimal diet. What should we eat instead? I bet you can guess…
Critics of animal agriculture often point to the amount of resources required to grow the meat and other products. They insinuate that this is wasteful, and that these resources should be used for products that go direct to human consumption.
What often gets left out of the conversation, is that ruminants are doing us a favor. They are taking food that cannot be digested by humans (cellulose) and converting it into something nutritious (meat and other animal products).
Much of this ruminant feed is either in the form of grazing land not suited for other cropping systems, or a by-product of crops used for other purposes (human food, ethanol, etc.).
“Ruminant animal agriculture isn’t competitive with human beings. In fact, ruminant animal agriculture increases the human edible food supply. And it does that worldwide. Modern, western agriculture as well as in other parts of the world.” — Dr. Peter Ballerstedt
Further, a lot of the grass-fed vs grain-fed debate leaves out the fact that the majority of the diets of ALL ruminants are grasses. Even those that are finished in a feedlot.
The global demand for animal products is expected to continue to rise dramatically in the coming decades. A ruminant revolution will allow us to meet this demand in a sustainable way.
One quarter of the earth’s surface can be utilized in some form of ruminant animal production system. This ruminant revolution needs to look at how we can improve the productivity and efficiency of ruminant agriculture worldwide.
Listen to my full interview with Dr. Peter Ballerstedt here:
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