We need a better analogy than the "feedlot" mentality.
 
Cattle in feedlots basically stand in the mud or bare dirt, and wait for the next load of feed.
 
Pigs, in feedlot fashion, are crammed into buildings with forced ventilation and concrete-slatted flooring.  They too, wait for their dinner to be brought to them.
 
Chickens sit in wire-floored cages.  Same scenario.  It would be a miracle if that chicken ever saw dirt or pecked at a beetle in the clover.  Turkeys have been bred to the point they can't even enjoy the act of procreation.
 
What makes these systems a "feedlot" is that the animal is taken from their natural environment of grass and sunshine and crammed into an incredibly efficient, largely controlled environment that meets their body's requirements to convert grain into meat.  It makes our food prices relatively cheap...but not without certain costs.
 
I can't see how placing a high density of beehives in a given area is anywhere near to a feedlot system.  What are almonds?  Two hives per acre?  If we wanted a true feedlot apiary, we'd keep the bees contained in the hive, drip a flavored-scented HFCS into hive, provide a forced-air ventilation system and inject the required antibiotics/stimulants to create more efficient wax glands and mite resistance.  I'm sure pollen substitutes would also be required.
 
I don't have a better analogy, but calling the almond pollination a feedlot doesn't really fit.  If a bee will fly two miles (I don't have a reliable source for this statistic) that hive will cover over 8,000 acres of potential pollination.  How many hives does it take to be 'crammed" into that 8,000 acre location?  Hardly a feedlot.
 
And don't get me started on how a top bar hive is more "natural" than a stack of Langstroth boxes.  It's just different.
 
Grant
Jackson, MO   Iowa State University, college of agriculture, class of 1981


      

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