Silencing the Lambs: Scientists Target Sheep Belching to Cut Methane

[babylonsister]

:shrug: Who knew?

Silencing the Lambs: Scientists Target Sheep Belching to Cut Methane
Reducing Gas in Livestock Could Help World Breathe Sigh of Relief Over Global Warming

By PATRICK BARTA


PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand -- On a typical day, researchers in this college town coax hungry sheep into metal carts. They wheel the fluffy beasts into sealed chambers and feed them grass, then wait for them to burp.

The exercise is part of a global effort to keep sheep, deer, cows and other livestock from belching methane when they eat and regurgitate grass. Methane is among the most potent greenhouse gases, and researchers now believe livestock industries are a major contributor to climate change, responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than cars are, according to the United Nations.

Animal biologists in New Zealand are leading one of the most sophisticated efforts in livestock stomach research. Their goal? To reduce global warming by producing less gassy sheep. WSJ's Patrick Barta reports.

Plenty of people, including farmers, think the problem of sheep burps is so much hot air. But governments are coming under pressure to put a cork in it, and many farmers fear that new livestock regulations could follow. They worry that environmentalists will someday persuade the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to seek to tax bovine belches. Some activists are urging consumers to stop buying meat and thus slow climate change.

All of which is breathing new life into the study of sheep stomachs. Researchers have tried just about everything, from changing the animals' diets to breeding new sheep they hope will be less gassy. They've concocted cocktails of clover, garlic and cottonseed oil to try to curb methane. They have even tried feeding the animals chloroform, which can stymie the production of gas if it doesn't kill the animal.

But sure as grass grows, livestock keep producing methane.

more...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123561039911777481.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one

[Lost in CT]

1. I read this article this morning I am still shaking my head.

This is so wrongheaded I don't know where to begin.

But on a lighter note the increase of whales in our oceans of late has also contributed to global warming as has the increase of baby seals....

I smell an enviromental solution coming up...

[Frustratedlady]

2. I'd be more concerned about the gasbags in the financial world,

Congress and those fat-headed Repugs that can't get with the program.

Leave the sheep alone. Better to belch, than to get rid of the gas later.

Just sayin'.