Listen to episode 3 below, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Amazon Music.
After multiple careers and a time of living abroad in Germany, Dave Fischer returned to Indiana in 2003 to take over his family’s cattle farm. Even though he was just starting out, Fischer was adamant about making his money by aiming for quality, rather than quantity.
Since 2004, he’s built a herd of 450 premium cattle, angus and shorthorn crosses, and operates a nearby facility that processes thirty cows every week. Fischer Farms stocks the cafeteria at Indiana University and feeds the Indianapolis Colts football team. As ever, Fischer attributes his success to the quality of his product, which has allowed him to carve out a corner of a market that is flooded with mass-produced meat.
At a time when so many cows are having such bad days, we’re going to spend this episode with a herd that’s doing rather well.
The biggest contributor to Dave’s high-quality is the annual grasses that he grows on his fields. Unlike most other beef farmers, Dave covers his pasture with ryegrass from September all the way through June. But Dave’s ryegrass is more than just cow food. In the decade and a half that he’s been planting it, it has helped store carbon within the topsoil layer, creating healthier and more productive ground, and offsetting a portion of his herd’s methane emissions.
What does it take to care for animals that are under a ton of pressure, and what would it take for more cattle farmers to run their businesses like Fischer’s? Explore the data visuals below to learn more.
Texas alone has more than 12 million head of cattle – nearly double that of second-place Nebraska — while the Midwest collectively accounts for a major share of the national herd. Indiana, where Dave Fischer runs his cattle farm, ranks 33.
Beef cattle are responsible for the majority of livestock methane emissions – nearly 140 MMT CO2 equivalent annually, more than double the contribution of dairy cattle and far above swine, sheep and the other livestock categories combined.
While industries and electric power industries have managed to cut their emissions significantly over the past three decades, agriculture overall has moved in the opposite direction – up 6.4% since 1990.
