The New Zealand government recently announced a “fart” tax that will charge farms for their greenhouse gas emissions.
The reaction from the farming community was swift, with one farm lobbyist quoted as saying “It will rip the guts out of rural New Zealand.” The Dutch government, in a similar effort, proposed setting aside €24 billion to buy Dutch dairies and put them out of business.
Why?
Ruminant livestock emissions are estimated to represent 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions today. What makes that even more significant is that livestock emissions are made up of mostly methane and methane is estimated to be twenty times more effective at trapping heat in the environment than CO2.
This makes understanding livestock emissions important so they can be reduced and potentially impact climate change. And the truth is that livestock methane emissions are emitted as a “burp,” not a “fart.”
Cow “burps” is how methane enters the environment. The methane is a by-product of the fermentation process that takes place in the cow during a digestion process called “enteric fermentation.” This process is necessary for ruminants–cows, sheep, goats– to take plants and turn them into a protein that humans can digest.
There are three things that can be done to reduce livestock methane emissions.
One approach is to reduce the number of animals on the planet. That is exactly what’s happening with the Dutch government buying-out dairies as well as the New Zealand tax. What you tax you get less of. In both cases the consequence is to reduce supplies. Reducing supplies lowers emissions but also increases costs which hurts the poorest of global consumers.
The next approach is to have livestock wear a mask to collect methane every time they exhale. Yes, a mask for every cow that needs to be refreshed and replaced over time. Seems like a stretch, yet there’s active research on this project going on today. In my opinion, this approach doesn’t seem practical, given there are over 1 billion ruminants scattered across the planet.
According to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are several factors that influence enteric fermentation methane emissions. These are: 1) the components of the feed and 2) the amount of the feed.
Currently, livestock in the US are fed carbohydrates rather than protein. Because carbohydrates ( corn and distillers dried grains from ethanol ) are lower cost and more plentiful. But this type of diet feeds more pounds and gives off more methane than a protein targeted diet. The carbohydrate enhanced diet also adds to the acres of feed grains under cultivation to supply the feed.
The most effective approach, I believe (and one that can be implemented today), is to adjust the feed ingredients to make the ruminant stomach more efficient.
One expert suggests that increased feeding efficiency by making the digestive metabolic pathway more efficient will reduce methane emissions as well as reduce the amount of feed needed. To enable that efficiency you need to properly target the proteins that will be accessible to the animal for growth. When that’s done accurately, the amount of feed needed is also reduced. The benefit of reducing the amount of feed needed adds to a lower environmental footprint, reduces the cost for the feed and reduces methane emissions.
Better nutrition is the remedy for this issue.
By accurately targeting the by-pass amino acids available for digestion, the digestive process is more efficient, at a lower cost and emits less methane. A reduction of as much as 40% is possible.
Boveta is one potential nutritional remedy with commercially proven IP that can target more efficient digestion, reduced feed, reduced methane emissions and at lower cost for both beef and dairy. More meat produced with less feed, less emissions (burping) and at lower cost. And with much less economic pain. No masks needed and meat, milk and cheese supplies stay plentiful to keep prices down.
So the next time you hear about Cattle farts and climate change you will know better.
