Answering the Cow-Blame Argument Without Getting Defensive

Sooner or later a customer, a cousin or a stranger online tells you cows are wrecking the planet. You can bristle, or you can answer. Bristling feels better for about ten seconds and loses you the conversation. Answering well takes a little preparation, and it starts with knowing what is true on both sides.

Give them the part they have right

Cattle make methane. Microbes in the rumen produce it as they break down forage, and it is a greenhouse gas. If you start by denying that, you lose the room. Say so, and then talk about what you do about it. That puts you on the side of the solution instead of the side of the argument.

Then explain the part they are missing

A cow is not an engine bolted to the landscape. What she adds depends on how she is managed, what the land would be doing without her and how much beef she produces. Calving percentage, weaning weights, growth and age at harvest all matter, because the emissions from a cow are spread across the pounds of beef she raises. A cow that is open, or raises a light calf, carries the same footprint with less to show for it. That is a management story, and it is the one you have control over.

Do not overpromise

Here is a cautionary tale. Australia's red meat industry announced a goal of carbon neutral by 2030, then gave it up. Tri-State Livestock News reports they figured they were still about 90 percent short with under five years left. The same story says sector emissions fell 78 percent from 2005 to 2021, but mostly because of less land clearing and a smaller herd, not cleaner cattle. It also quotes one industry leader saying grass-fed production is inherently climate neutral. That is his claim, and the article says farmers were skeptical partly because the research does not all agree.

Take the lesson. Do not promise a number you cannot hit and do not take credit for a drop you did not cause. If your herd got smaller, say so. A sharp customer or reporter will find out, and you will lose more than you gained.

Keep numbers you can back up

• Calf crop and weaning weights. Your own records, year by year.
• Grazing and feed. Rest periods, stocking rates, hay and supplement bought.
• Animal care. Beef Quality Assurance training is a recognized credential. Details at bqa.org.
• Genetics. What traits you select for and why. Our bull buying checklist is a start.

When you quote a statistic about beef and the environment, know where it came from, what year, and whether it is a national average or your own place. The USDA Economic Research Service keeps beef sector data, and both the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef post their frameworks for anyone to read.

Know the difference between the targets

Reducing carbon per pound of beef is not the same promise as going climate neutral, and neither is the same as cutting total emissions. If somebody throws a target at you, ask which one. We lay them out in climate targets and the cattleman.

Talk trade-offs like a grown man

Grass finishing takes time and acres and fits country where you could not raise a crop. Grain finishing is faster but leans on feed grown elsewhere. Good grazing can improve forage and may store carbon in some soils, but how much varies. Say it that way. Nobody believes a man who says his system has no downside. See grass-finished or grain-finished for how to think it through.

What to do when the question is hostile

Some people are not asking, they are accusing. You will not change a person who has already decided, and you do not have to. Answer once, calmly, with what you know, and let the people listening draw their own conclusions. Often the audience is bigger than the person arguing. A short, factual reply that admits what is true and explains what you do will land better with a bystander than a long speech. If the conversation turns into an insult contest, step out. Your time is better spent on the customers who ask honest questions, and on the cattle.

Ground rules for the conversation

• Start with what you do, in plain words.
• Admit methane and say what you do about it.
• Say what you do not know.
• Invite them out to look at the place.
• Do not insult the person asking. It proves their point.

If you sell beef direct, you have an edge, because folks can look you in the eye. Our piece on filling your own freezer covers the buyer's side of that relationship, and farm.fm's page on marketing your Angus beef has more on telling your story. Need extension, processors or auditors? Try agriculture.directory.

Figures and programs change, so go back to the source before you quote one. This site is independent and not affiliated with the American Angus Association or Certified Angus Beef.