According to the Texas Farm Bureau, there are more cattle on feedlots within 150 miles of Amarillo, Texas, than any other area in the world. Economies of scale make concentrating large numbers of cattle in feedlots highly efficient at producing beef, as well as large amounts of waste. At the Bovina Cattle Company in Bovina, Texas, manure dust—known locally as “shog” (for shit fog)—fills the air (above). Giant feedlots boomed in the US in the 1960s and, with the use of corn feed, improved genetics, growth-hormone implants, and feed additives, increased the beef production per cow from less than 250 pounds in 1950 to more than 660 pounds today. With the help of imported cattle from Canada and Mexico, beef production in the US nearly doubled between 1960 and 2022 from roughly the same herd size.
