Bertha the belching cow
August 7th, 2007 by Eric
Much to the chagrin of my mother, I’ve always thought that belching was funny. I mean, we praise babies for doing it, why aren’t my parents proud of me when I let one go from the diaphragm at the dinner table? And everyone seems to shrug it off as “natural” when animals do it. Well, as it turns out, that “natural” behavior in cows may be contributing a great deal to global warming. Belching is a little less funny to me now.
The average dairy cow belches out about 100 to 200 liters of methane each day, making diet changes a key potential factor in reducing this greenhouse gas.
Methane is by far the most potent greenhouse gas that we produce, doing 20 times the damage of carbon dioxide.
Scientists now believe that methane gas is responsible for 15% of man induced climate change. Livestock contributes to 15-20% of the methane.
The actual impact is in some dispute, but there is more and more evidence that, absurd as it may sound, cow belches actually have a significant impact on global warming. But what can be done about it?
Well, a few things, actually. German scientists have invented a pill that allows the cow to use that energy to make more milk rather than belching it out. There are other research groups that are experimenting with bovine diets to figure out how to reduce methane. Legumes such as clover and alfalfa have proven very effective. So buy grass-fed beef. I told you corn was evil.
Thanks to this cow-lover for the pic
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