Defining Industrial Animal Agriculture
5 KEY POINTS – Defining Industrial Animal Agriculture 1. Animal ag is a system of interlocking industries controlled by large corporations with increasing vertical and horizontal integration. 2. It is based on commodity production (i.e., uniform inputs and outputs). 3. The treatment of animals as commodities is based solely on productivity. 4. The system relies […]
Grazing on Federal Lands
What agencies manage grazing rights on federal lands? The two primary agencies that manage grazing on federal (public) lands are the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service (FS). How much federal land is available for grazing? There are ~252 million acres of federal land available for grazing. Land available for grazing does […]
Grazing Animal Numbers
Approximately how many cattle are there in the U.S? As of January 2025, there were ~86.7 million cattle in inventory.[1] In January 2024, there were ~87.2 million.[1] These figures include cattle raised for beef and cattle raised for milk production. USDA NASS (January 31, 2025) Cattle, ISSN: 1948-9099, p. 4. [2025 = 86,662,200 cattle; 2024 […]
Grazing Overview
What is grazing? According to the USDA grazing is “Feeding on standing vegetation, as by livestock or wild animals.”[1] Grazing allows farmed animals to be outdoors and directly consume forage: grasses, legumes, and forbs, on rangeland or pasture.[2] USDA NALT Glossary (National Agricultural Library Thesaurus) USDA NRCS (June 2022) National Range and Pasture Handbook. No. […]
Grazing Takeaways
Grazing Takeaways Takeaways are key points detailed and referenced in the Grazing Numbers & Resource Use section Grazing Numbers About 35% of the contiguous U.S. (~670 million acres) is used for grazing as the primary use. About 60% of total land in the 10 states of the Mountain and Southern Plains regions is primarily used […]
Total Feed Crops Share
What share of all crops harvested in the U.S. are used for animal feed? About 58% of all U.S. crops harvested goes specifically to animal feed. Of this share we estimate that: About 56% comes from quantifiable shares of the top 10 U.S. crops.(See next question) About 2% or more comes from other, less easily […]
Share of Secondary Crops for Feed
How do secondary crops used for feed rank by acreage? USDA NASS (June 2026) Acreage, ISSN: 1949-1522, p. 32. For Animal Feed Usage, sources are noted below with calculations relying primarily on USDA data. Figures are based on percent of “disappearance” – the utilization of a crop or product, e.g., food, industrial use, […]
Share of Hay and Wheat for Feed
How do hay and wheat rank among the nation’s crops? Hay/alfalfa and wheat are the 3rd and 4th largest crops by acreage.[1,2] USDA NASS (2026) Acreage, ISSN 1949-1522, p. 32. [The USDA reports only harvested acres for hay/alfalfa.] For Animal Feed Usage, sources are noted throughout these pages with calculations relying primarily on USDA […]
Share of Soybean Crop for Feed
What share of soybean production is used for animal feed? Averaging 2022-2025, about 75% of U.S. soybean production by weight goes to animal feed. Using the relative value of coproducts, ~58% of soybean usage went to animal feed as an average in the same period. Our tallies (used throughout the site) of total share of crops […]
Share of Corn Crop for Feed
What is the share of U.S. corn production that goes to animal feed? As an average, about 65% of corn production goes to animal feed. This is a 4-year average from 2022-2025. For years, the USDA has estimated that ~40% of “total domestic corn use” goes to animal feed.[1] This figure is often picked up […]