Cowboys guided a herd of longhorn livestock thru downtown Denver to have fun the hole of the once a year Nationwide Western Inventory Display on Jan. 8, 2026. As ranchers convey their highest livestock to compete for blue ribbons over the process this month, it’s a great time to believe whether or not pork manufacturing may also be a part of a round economic system.
Longhorn livestock are herded thru downtown Denver in a parade marking the start of the Nationwide Western Inventory Display on Jan. 8, 2026.
John Eisele, CSU Images, CC BY
Circularity is an financial type the place uncooked fabrics are responsibly sourced, waste merchandise are put to highest use and the gadget maximizes ecosystem functioning and human well-being.
As with maximum human actions, pork manufacturing supplies a treasured contribution to human well being whilst additionally impacting the herbal setting, on occasion in destructive tactics.
We’re innovators and researchers who reside in Colorado and find out about the meat provide chain. Our paintings extensively specializes in investigating tactics to make pork manufacturing extra round and sustainable.
Kim Stackhouse-Lawson and Sara Position are professionals in cow burps and applied sciences to mitigate the methane related to them. Jennifer Martin is knowledgeable in meat processing and provide chains for byproducts like organ meats. Jordan Kraft Lambert is knowledgeable in commercializing applied sciences that assist farmers and ranchers steward the surroundings whilst feeding the arena.
Red meat is a supply of whole protein. It has the whole supplement of amino acids people wish to construct muscle and is a wealthy supply of nutrition B12, which is important to verify anxious gadget serve as and purple blood cellular formation. Red meat produced within the U.S. every yr meets the entire protein wishes of 40 million other people and offers sufficient B12 to satisfy the desires of 137 million other people, in step with analysis.
In 2019, U.S. pork livestock manufacturing comprised about 3.7% of the rustic’s greenhouse gasoline emissions. Red meat livestock manufacturing could also be chargeable for roughly 5% of U.S. water withdrawn from floor or groundwater, and nil.7% of the country’s fossil gas power use.
Cows can procedure waste that different animals and people can’t, making them the most important a part of a round economic system.
Matthew Staver, CC BY
New tech to cut back environmental affect
Cows are in a position to digest tricky, fibrous plant subject matter that people, pigs and chickens can’t. This makes them the most important a part of a round economic system as a result of they are able to digest what would in a different way be regarded as waste from different industries, just like the grain left over from making beer and almond hulls from almond milk. Via the usage of those components to feed livestock as an alternative of letting it rot in landfills, U.S. feedlots reduced the quantity of human-edible feeds required to provide extra pork protein.
When livestock are being fed waste merchandise like almond hulls and spent grain, it’s simple for manufacturers to incorporate feed components, like herbs and personalized molecules. Those additions would possibly cut back the cows’ methane manufacturing by means of converting how the microbes of their stomachs procedure carbohydrates.
Farm animals getting their burps measured on the Colorado State College Citadel Collins Agricultural Analysis, Building and Training Heart.
CSU AgNext, CC BY
For a similar explanation why that cows can digest what would in a different way be regarded as waste, cows are in a position to devour grass. Grazing is vital in dry areas just like the mountains and excessive plains of Colorado. If the grass isn’t got rid of by means of grazing, it dries and turns into tinder for wildfire. As well as, many of those mountainous spaces are too chilly, rocky and steep to develop plants. Grazing can flip land that will in a different way be tough to farm into food-producing land.
Till now, grazing required bodily fences, which can be pricey to care for and prohibit natural world motion. However new applied sciences like digital fencing permit Western Slope ranchers to make use of their smartphones to set virtual obstacles. A collar at the cow beeps and buzzes to inform the cows the place to move. Digital obstacles are simple to modify and visual most effective to the cow; thus, they beef up extra environmentally-friendly grazing practices, give protection to streams and natural world habitat and cut back wildfire gas in dry seasons. Whilst our contemporary analysis displays that this era wishes extra building, it may well be the most important instrument for pork’s position in a round economic system.
Farm animals in a pasture with digital fence collars at the Central Plains Experimental Vary close to Nunn, Colo., throughout the higher Pawnee Nationwide Grasslands space.
CSU AgNext, CC BY
Past steak: Organ meats, puppy treats and leather-based
In our enjoy, many U.S. shoppers infrequently devour cuts past steaks and floor pork — frequently because of a foul first enjoy with organ meats, like liver, or unfamiliarity with tips on how to prepare dinner lesser-known cuts, like center.
When consumers received’t purchase those cuts, Colorado’s pork manufacturers who promote on-line or at farmers markets must ship them to the landfill. That prices the manufacturer cash and wastes the water, land and feed used to make those cuts.
Research display that those cuts are a few of the maximum nutrient-dense portions of the animal, offering excessive ranges of iron, B nutrients, choline and and different micronutrients. Making use of those lesser-known cuts can cut back emissions by means of the usage of extra of the animal and stay suitable for eating meat out of landfills, the place it will in a different way rot, freeing greenhouse gases.
This doesn’t imply any individual has to endure thru a meal of rubbery liver to avoid wasting the planet. Many cultures globally price organ dishes, and U.S. tastes are increasing to incorporate meals like lengua tacos constituted of pork tongue. In the meantime, cooking equipment akin to sous vide can make stronger tenderness and juiciness by means of keeping meat at exact temperatures for longer occasions.
Pets additionally get pleasure from consuming organ meats, so those cuts are a key factor in puppy meals and treats.
Shopper model alternatives topic too. About 270 million bovine hides are produced globally every yr, and about 70% are became leather-based. Because of inadequate call for, last hides are burned or despatched to the landfill, either one of which unencumber greenhouse gases.
Slightly than letting those hides rot, they are able to be became leather-based, a sturdy, breathable and biodegradable high-performance subject matter. When shoppers make a selection to shop for authentic leather-based boots, belts and automotive seats, they’re attractive within the round economic system.
For those causes, Colorado State College is web hosting Long run Cowboy on Jan. 25, 2026, on the Nationwide Western Inventory Display. It’s an match that shall we Colorado foodies, fashionistas and livestock manufacturers come in combination to discover circularity firsthand. The development will function a leather-based model display, a ranch era exhibit and a chance take a look at chef-prepared bison tongue and pork center.
