this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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I genuinely don't know how much US beef is fed alfalfa grown with water drawn from rivers.
My intention with the following is not to throw any shade on the US, but I just don't know what the farming practices are elsewhere in the world.
In my state, there are no "feed lots" and cattle exclusively graze in paddocks. Their feed is supplemented with silage and hay but none of which is irrigated, even from a local on-property dam. That is to say that the entirety is their feed is grown with direct rainfall.
I'm just pointing out that while some water inputs may be from rivers, it's not the entirety and I doubt it's the majority.
How nice that you doubt that. Sorry for being snarky, I spent too much time reading through this comment section and your comments are actually among the more reasonable ones. They are just based on anecdotal evidence, which rubs me the wrong way.
To give you some hard data, here is the "raw" version of the USGS from 2015. Rain might play a small factor, but the amount of water that is needed additionally is on another level. https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1441/circ1441.
I also wrote a way too long comment at the top-level here in case you have too much time.