But I just think that's a little way off. You'll probably need to create some big spaces and secure major water supplies. I just don't see it as a priority, given everything else that needs to be done.
I guess many people who have never been seriously involved in agriculture see only problems; I look at problems, see opportunity and seek solutions. We are now looking at transit times between Earth and Mars on the order of 5 to 6 months, and Elon has talked of shorter transit times. Transportation of beef cattle should be not as probematic as one might think, since pregnant cows have similar gestation times as humans; pregnant females would be the only ones taken, along with a supply of frozen semen for re-impregnation after delivery of the calf. We take only non pregnant swine sows, and using artificial insemination during transit, arrive with soon to deliver females. I'm still working on strategies for most efficient manner of transportation of chickens and turkeys. One factor which would be helpful would be artificial gravity; this would allow adequate animal sanitation and mess cleanup.
Goats milk doesn't taste *that* bad. They're significantly smaller, so they should be easier to manage. Nigerian Dwarfs are ~50cm tall and 27-36 kg mass. Once we establish a herd, we can start breeding to larger sizes with imported sperm.
Goats, chickens, and fish. Red meat would be a rare delicacy, but I can live with that. So would chicken for that matter. We could still have fish fillets and burgers. All animals fed on duckweed, of course.
]]>I disagree completely with your view on cattle feeding; after all, I only did this on a small scale (between 36 and 100 cows) for 22 years. I learned a lot from my Veterinarian neighbor about feeding and care of cattle. We do not initially need a bull, as tubes of semen are normally kept for years at liquid Nitrogen temperature. Once herd is established there will be ample bull calves born for herd propagation after the initial supply of semen is exhausted. A bull is sexually mature at 18 months, and cow calves are normally bred as late yearlings between 15 and 18 months.
Where did you get your information on feeding cattle? I normally irrigated and grew, cut, cured, and baled 90 tons of hay annually for winter feed of the herd. This was mostly grass hay with some clover and a bit of alfalfa mixed in as grown. It takes roughly 1.5 tons of hay to feed a cow 100 %, except for salt blocks with trace minerals added. This quantity is based on 7-8 months of feeding. Over my career as a part-time hobby rancher, I raised approximately 1,100 calves to market weight or for herd growth and mother cow replacement. Every rancher in the area was dependent on success of the hay crop for maintenance of the herds.
In response to Calliban--Algae can be extremely toxic if animals drink too much water containing significant quantities. They die by bloating. I'm not saying anything negative about the bottom line; it could be dried and processed into feed for all livestock. Cattle, poultry, and swine.
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Alternatively, we might feed algae based fodder to livestock or fish.
]]>I would however point out that with both fish and poultry there are serious management issues.
Fish farming in reality requires copious amounts of fresh water. Fish are very susceptible to disease.
Poultry management in a hab with artificial air also seems fraught with difficulty (feathers, dust, faeces).
Why add to your problems? Why add "animal management" burden to all your other challenges?
The recommended individual daily intake of meat is 70 grams.
For a colony of 100 people, that would be just 2.5 tons of meat per annum. When you will have multiple Starships flying loads between 50 tons and 100 tons, I think it is pretty obvious that imported meat in frozen, vacuum pack and tinned forms would make more sense.
However, the modern "meat substitute" foods like the Impossible burger have had excellent reviews. They replicate all aspects of the meat eating experience for burgers.
IMHO, we should be rethinking Mars agriculture with fewer weight limitations on what can be transported to Mars. In reality. nobody wants to eat synthetic meat, be a vegan, or slurp bacterial broth in order to face a Brave New World. I'm proposing that regulars here take another look at poultry, aquaculture of Tilapia, and swine. More spacious transportation vehicles also allow transport of pregnant females of beef cattle or dairy cattle. A real colony on Mars would thrive and attract more potential colonists if the dietary regimen were not too Spartan.
Now that there is a rumor/possibility of a Starship 2.0, this idea becomes even more attractive.
If there are 10 ships, carrying 100 people every two years, then the population will grow by 500/year. That's enough to create a couple of small towns within a decade.
Quails have already been hatched in freefall. Alas, only a very small number of the eggs did. RobertyDyck has mentioned the possibility of hibernating embryos before, though. If we can take chickens, then that gives us some real meat (though I expect it to mostly be fish for the first few decades), but more importantly eggs. Tilapia mayo sandwiches, anyone?
]]>Synthetic meat tastes no different than natural meat. If menu options are stopping people from going to Mars, then surely the possibility of instant death from any of a number of other possible lethal events would be a greater cause for concern in the thought process of people considering selling everything they own to move there.
]]>Now that there is a rumor/possibility of a Starship 2.0, this idea becomes even more attractive.
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