| Let's for a moment assume that an almond tree serves no other purpose than to produce almonds (for almond milk), and a dairy cow serves no other purpose than to produce milk. The average dairy cow produces 2320 gallons of milk per year.
Dairy cows drink 40 gallons of water per day, which is about 14600 gallons per year.
A grown dairy cow eats about 30 pounds of food per day - 50% grain and 50% grass, so about 5475 pounds of grain per year.
It takes 127 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of maize.
Not counting the water requirements for grass, and assuming that our cow only eats maize, we'll need 695325 gallons to of water to feed the cow. It takes 22000 gallons of water to irrigate an acre of land. Each acre produces 2 tons of hay, so we'll need 11000 gallons per ton of hay or 11 gallons per pound, which is 60225 gallons of water for grass. Total water consumption of 1 cow per year for grass + grain + drinking water = 770150 gallons. That brings us to needing 770150 gallons of water to produce 2320 gallons of cow milk.
So, about 331 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of cow milk. They say that each almond requires 1.1 gallons of water.
1 pound of shelled almonds = 3.63 cups of almonds.
There are 416 almonds in a pound. So, about 26 per ounce, and 208 per cup.
There are 16 cups in a gallon.
To make almond milk, we mix 6 cups of water for each cup of almonds, which will yield us about 6.5 cups of almond milk.
It'll take 2.46 cups of almonds to make 1 gallon of almond milk, so 512 almonds, so 563 gallons of water. Things we're not accounting for in the above comparison: The water cost of producing pesticides, fertilizers. The water cost of producing health treatments for cows. The water cost of producing diesel to transport grains to the cows. The water cost of producing electricity and packaging. I'm sure I'm missing a lot. Sources: - https://albertamilk.com/ask-dairy-farmer/what-do-dairy-cows-... - https://dairy-cattle.extension.org/how-much-milk-does-the-av... - https://thelivestockexpert.com/how-much-water-does-a-cow-dri... - https://informedfarmers.com/how-much-grass-does-a-cow-eat/ - https://www.derthickscornmaze.com/interesting-about-corn/how... - https://www.answers.com/Q/How_many_almonds_are_in_a_pound - http://anniekateshomeschoolreviews.com/2011/10/shelled-vs-un... - https://www.openfit.com/how-many-nuts-are-in-an-ounce - https://www.answers.com/Q/How_much_water_does_it_take_to_mak... - https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-much-weight-can-a-big-... - https://www.motorbiscuit.com/how-many-miles-per-gallon-do-se... - https://askinglot.com/how-much-water-does-a-farm-use-per-acr... - https://otonomic.com/how-many-bales-of-hay-per-acre/ |