Back of the envelope of the day: I recently read that it takes 13,000 gallons of water to make one hamburger patty. From some searching on the internet, I found that the average slaughter age of beef cattle is 2 years. Over that time, a corn fed cow will consume an average 10 gallons/water per day and 25 lbs of food/day. Assuming the food is corn, and that it takes 112 gallons to produce a pound of corn, a cow will require a total of 2,051,300 gallons of water in its lifespan. If half of the weight of a 1,600 lb cow is used for meat, and all of that meat is used for hamburgers, it requires 2,564 gallons of water per lb of beef or 854 gallons for a 1/3 lb hamburger. My calculation was fairly conservative and didnt include things like the water used to transport the cow or the water required to slaughter and process it. I also didnt include the fact that cows will eat less when they are younger and that the amount that they eat and drink changes seasonally and with temperature. (The numbers I used were for 60 degrees F) Conclusion: The 13,000 gallons might be an overestimate, but it definitely takes a lot of water to create a hamburger.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 18:07:43 +0000
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