What does that moo-vement have to do with cow burps?
In this March 2, 2002 file photo, a Holstein cow east hay at the De Vries Dairy in Pasco, Wash.
Yep, the spell checker passed it, so to speak...
Posted on 06/23/2009 3:22:55 PM PDT by Libloather
Greener diet reduces dairy cows' methane burps
By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
COVENTRY, Vt. (AP) — Vermont dairy farmers Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert, mindful of shrinking their carbon footprint, have changed their cows’ diet to reduce the amount of gas the animals burp — dairy cows’ contribution to global warming.
Coventry Valley Farm is one of 15 Vermont farms working with Stonyfield Farm Inc., whose yogurt is made with their organic milk, to reduce the cows’ intestinal methane by feeding them flaxseed, alfalfa, and grasses high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The gas cows belch is the dairy industry’s biggest greenhouse gas contributor, research shows, most of it emitted from the front and not the back end of the cow.
**SNIP**
When Stonyfield first analyzed its contribution to global warming in the late 1990s, the company thought its factory in Londonderry, N.H., produced the most greenhouse gases.
“And when we got the report and our number one impact on climate change was the milk production, we were completely stunned,” she said.
A study showed that the single biggest source was the cow’s enteric emissions: gas.
The company funded energy audits on farms and research on small manure digesters so farmers could produce energy from methane gas.
But Hirschberg said she had no idea what to do about enteric emissions. Then she learned what Group Danone of France, majority owner of Stonyfield and best known in the U.S. for its Dannon products, was doing about its methane.
By feeding their cows alfalfa, flax and grasses, they were cutting down on the gas passed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyjournalonline.com ...
Breeding Cows That Burp Less
Posted on: Tuesday, 23 June 2009, 11:15 CDT
In an effort to lower greenhouse gas emissions, scientists in Canada are attempting to breed cows that will burp less.
Stephen Moore, professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, is leading a team of scientists with the goal of pinpointing specific genes that account for a cow’s burps. His study is found in the Journal of Animal Science.
Cows are a major producer of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas with the 20 times the polluting strength of carbon dioxide. Most of their methane production comes from burping.
“We are working on producing diagnostic markers for efficient animals. We are looking at the next generation of technologies that will enable us to determine the genetics of an animal through a blood test or testing some hairs that you might pluck from the animal," Moore told Reuters.
Moore has completed tests to breed animals that produce 25 percent less methane than common breeds.
Other work is already underway in trying to make livestock more efficient. Ranchers are feeding cattle foods that are higher in energy and edible oils, resulting in less fermentation within the stomach of grazing cattle.
Moore told Reuters that another method could include breeding cattle that grow faster. This would allow ranchers to get cattle to market quicker, leaving less time for grazing and emitting methane.
Ranchers in Alberta that use high quality feed and get their cattle to market more quickly have the opportunity to earn carbon credits for each head of cattle raised.
"If every U.S. dairy farmer reduced emissions by 12 percent it would be equal to about half a million cars being taken off the road," Nancy Hirshberg, vice president of the department of natural resources at Stonyfield Farm, told Reuters.
**SNIP**
This is an excerpt.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1710001/breeding_cows_that_burp_less/index.html?source=r_science
If they can do that to humans, I may be for it.
I have a simple question.......
.....if bovine flatulence causes climate problems why didn’t we see climate change when tens of millions of buffaloes roamed the plains?
I mean, these environmentalists lament the loss of massive herds of buffalo, but castigate the use of cows for milk and meat?!
What does that moo-vement have to do with cow burps?
In this March 2, 2002 file photo, a Holstein cow east hay at the De Vries Dairy in Pasco, Wash.
Yep, the spell checker passed it, so to speak...
What a crock!!!
Only a socialist would study or believe this clap-trap.
If old Tim and Kristen were truly concerned about their dairy cow emissions, they would tell the government to say NO TO MORE HANDOUTS FOR THE DAIRY INDUSTRY!!!. Let the free market take its course and solve dairy cow burps - permanently.
I have another - what were the size of dinosaur farts and burps? One can assume that they must've been HUGH! (Maybe that's what caused their demise - eh?)
My apologies to google.com users today. jiggygirl is no doubt scouring the last byte of the internet for "flaxseed pizza recipe", "alfalfa beer", etc.
We may need the heat!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/climatechange/2009/04/where_did_all_the_sunspots_go.html GOOD READ!
“...’It’s pretty clear that the underlying level of the Sun peaked at about 1985 and what we are seeing is a continuation of a downward trend that’s been going on for a couple of decades. If the Sun’s dimming were to have a cooling effect, we’d have seen it by now.’
Talk of global cooling is considered heresy by many global warming advocates. But then we know that science isn’t about orthodoxy, it’s about ‘observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning’. It will be interesting to see what happens next...”
Make them burp more and get the global warming started before we all freeze to death!
Is the manure taxed anywhere along the line? (I bet it is...)
Wade Rathke (founder of ACORN and Lisa Rathke in Vermont. Any connection?.
Dunno - yet.
Rathke's campaign will mobilise farmers.
Economic Times (New Delhi, India) , April, 2007
Byline: Mayur Shekhar Jha
Apr. 25--NEW DELHI -- The lobby opposing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail is taking its campaign to a higher pitch. The new target? All corporate retailers -- domestic as well as foreign. Even as the anti-FDI lobby knows that it's not practical to stall the entry of corporates in retail, it's now trying to hit where it would perhaps hurt retail chains the most.
Anti-Wal-Mart activist Wade Rathke, who is in India to mobilise a campaign against corporate retail, told ET, "Our campaign in India will be centred around farmers, and leading ...
Lisa Rathke
Writes for SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Vermont commission holds off on milk surcharge
By LISA RATHKE,
A panel looking for ways to help Vermont dairy farmers is holding off on adding a surcharge on milk sold in the state, opting instead to continue studying the plan.
Vermont tries to match up farmers with food buyers
By LISA RATHKE,
Vegetable grower Joe Buley, hoping to improve his life, has turned to a matchmaker. Not for his love life _ for his veggies. He's signed up for a "Matchmaker" event in...
they were free range , grazing on grasses. Not govt subsidized corn -which is very unhealthy for cattle.
B&M Beans, Portland, Maine or you can just go down to Moody’s Diner and get a “good charge of beans”!
Please let me know when that happens. An explosion just made an elderly neighbor of mine lift off his feet. Firecracker? Gun play? Maybe both...
:-))
I used to see B&M beans all the time but Bush’s seems to have taken their shelf space out here.
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