State Editorial

Nebraska is notorious for its agricultural industry. When people think of the state they think of country roads lined with endless corn, bean, and wheat fields. The most popular university in the state literally goes by “The Nebraska Cornhuskers”. What goes unnoticed from people a lot of the time is the fact that Nebraska is the nations largest distributer of beef. Feedlots are an extremely important part of not only Nebraska’s agriculture but the economy as well.

There is no issue that Nebraskans aren’t eating beef. That will never not happen. Feedlots are what supply the state and the nation with the beef that is being mentioned. What needs to happen is for people in state to continue to support these feedlots by buying Nebraska raised beef.

There are quite a few arguing points for this. One of the largest crops in the state is corn. Corn is a large ingredient in the feed that the cows in these feedlots eat, and they eat, A LOT. This corn is also bought from farmers in Nebraska, which benefits the state by boosting the economy. Feedlots raise an astronomical amount of cows each year. These feedlots create thousands of jobs throughout Nebraska. All of these cows are turned into beef that is sold not only in state but all throughout the U.S. 1 in every 5 steaks bought in the country are sourced from Nebraska, and in state feedlots. Some people claim that the animals are shoved into small pens and don’t have room to move around, but this is not true.

There is also another very good reason for Nebraskan’s to keep supporting their feedlots. Feedlots are the most humane form of mass farming and harvesting of animals. Have you ever thought about how many meals come from a single cow? One cow could feed a family for a solid year with no problems. One steer can produce an average of 490 pounds of beef, or about one thousand 8 oz pieces of beef. This is much more efficient than chicken factory farming. Chickens are thrown into small cages, living in chronic pain for most of their lives. This is much like the assumption that cows are thrown into small pens without room to move. To equal the amount of meat harvested from just one steer, it would take about 200 slaughtered chickens.

Feedlots are tremendously important for the state of Nebraska and are in no risk or being shut down, but it is important that the residents continue to back them because of the economic impact on the state, and for the fact that it is the most humane way of producing meat, and yields the most food per animal.