However instead of requiring cows to wear butt plugs and methane collectors over their mouths or drive cattle out of state, some smart folks discovered this. From linked article above.
the fact that SLCP doesn't know how to achieve this, the smarties at Group Danone of France (owners of Dannon and Stonyfield Farm) figured out that—surprise!—corn and soy are not healthy feeds for ruminant animals like cows—even when organically grown.
Rather, feeding cows a natural, polycultural diet of Omega-3-rich grasses, forbs, flax seed and alfalfa—which is what they were born to eat anyway—restores the internal ecology of the cow’s digestive rumen, which in turn considerably reduces the amount of greenhouse gases they belch and fart, er, emit.
As an added benefit, the “new” diet gives the cows shinier coats, fewer foot problems and no stomach ailments. And when the cows are out grazing on grass in the pasture or on steep hillsides that can’t be farmed, farm feed and vet bills go down, and less pollution is created in growing and transporting feed crops. (Imagine that!)
Plus the act of simultaneously grazing and manuring the pasture builds topsoil and sequesters carbon from the air, overall reducing greenhouse gases and helping to solve climate change.
And to top it all off, the milk from pasture-fed cows is appreciably more nutritious, has significantly less bacteria, and is less allergenic.
The "cow farts cause global warming" claim has been around for about 25 years but never had much traction because it is very hard to tax cow farts or even trade cow fart emission credits. I am sure it will become a more important AGW argument now that several respected government paid global warming researchers have published papers showing that "man made CO2" caused warming is (essentially) not happening. (UK, September 2017).
A little over a decade ago I was visiting a friend at his Iowa family farm where they grew feed corn and raised pigs. Interestingly, the farm did NOT smell like pig shit. Every pig they raised was inside one of four very large metal barns that were completely sealed and maintained at a slightly lower air pressure than the outside. The inside air was circulated through "collectors" to extract methane and filter other particulates (especially sulfur).
The farm (run by my friend's brother) also collected all of the pig shit and pee. Instead of stinking up the whole county with over 7,000 pigs, the farm burned the solid waste to run an electrical grid that powered the whole operation, processed the liquid waste (piped to a small plant a few miles away) into chemical fertilizers, and stored the methane for sale to a nearby electrical company.
While pigs grown specifically for high fat food can be raised indoors, it is a bit different for cattle. Without exercise, fresh grasses, and variety in their diet, cattle get fat and stop growing - leaving tasteless fatty meat and low return for the cattlemen. I agree that the study mentioned by Rick999 establishes that grasses (instead of grains) produces better meat with fewer farts. The problem is feeding (a lot of) cattle a variety of grasses in the volume needed to be profitable.
Moonbeam's California cowfart collectors will never be practical nor will any fart taxes. But that's OK since - in the real world - cow farts, like man made CO2, are not really a major threat. Only tax collectors, government paid researchers, and globalist fanatics, really need the global warming scare. The rest of us can be content with our concerns about the damage of overpopulation, pollution, illegal aliens, gangs and overpriced lapdances.
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cows with methane collectors
the fact that SLCP doesn't know how to achieve this, the smarties at Group Danone of France (owners of Dannon and Stonyfield Farm) figured out that—surprise!—corn and soy are not healthy feeds for ruminant animals like cows—even when organically grown.
Rather, feeding cows a natural, polycultural diet of Omega-3-rich grasses, forbs, flax seed and alfalfa—which is what they were born to eat anyway—restores the internal ecology of the cow’s digestive rumen, which in turn considerably reduces the amount of greenhouse gases they belch and fart, er, emit.
As an added benefit, the “new” diet gives the cows shinier coats, fewer foot problems and no stomach ailments. And when the cows are out grazing on grass in the pasture or on steep hillsides that can’t be farmed, farm feed and vet bills go down, and less pollution is created in growing and transporting feed crops. (Imagine that!)
Plus the act of simultaneously grazing and manuring the pasture builds topsoil and sequesters carbon from the air, overall reducing greenhouse gases and helping to solve climate change.
And to top it all off, the milk from pasture-fed cows is appreciably more nutritious, has significantly less bacteria, and is less allergenic.
THAT’S BULLSHIT!
A little over a decade ago I was visiting a friend at his Iowa family farm where they grew feed corn and raised pigs. Interestingly, the farm did NOT smell like pig shit. Every pig they raised was inside one of four very large metal barns that were completely sealed and maintained at a slightly lower air pressure than the outside. The inside air was circulated through "collectors" to extract methane and filter other particulates (especially sulfur).
The farm (run by my friend's brother) also collected all of the pig shit and pee. Instead of stinking up the whole county with over 7,000 pigs, the farm burned the solid waste to run an electrical grid that powered the whole operation, processed the liquid waste (piped to a small plant a few miles away) into chemical fertilizers, and stored the methane for sale to a nearby electrical company.
While pigs grown specifically for high fat food can be raised indoors, it is a bit different for cattle. Without exercise, fresh grasses, and variety in their diet, cattle get fat and stop growing - leaving tasteless fatty meat and low return for the cattlemen. I agree that the study mentioned by Rick999 establishes that grasses (instead of grains) produces better meat with fewer farts. The problem is feeding (a lot of) cattle a variety of grasses in the volume needed to be profitable.
Moonbeam's California cowfart collectors will never be practical nor will any fart taxes. But that's OK since - in the real world - cow farts, like man made CO2, are not really a major threat. Only tax collectors, government paid researchers, and globalist fanatics, really need the global warming scare. The rest of us can be content with our concerns about the damage of overpopulation, pollution, illegal aliens, gangs and overpriced lapdances.