Herb Quells Cows' Methane-Laden Belches

[foxfeet]

By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor

posted: 09 September 2010 09:30 am ET

For scientists concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, cow farts are nowhere near as problematic as their methane-laden belches. Now a new oregano supplement could stem the burps and reduce the potent methane emissions.

Worldwide, cows are responsible for 37 percent of the human-produced methane, according to study researcher Alexander Hristov, an associate professor of dairy nutrition at Penn State University. Most of that methane comes not from the backsides of cows, but from the gas they belch after digesting their food, according to Hristov and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

"The cow 'farts' very little methane," Hristov told LiveScience. "The vast majority of methane is produced in the rumen and is belched out."

Methanogenic bacteria in the rumen, the largest compartment of the four-chambered stomach, break down the material into nutrients. Two of the byproducts are carbon dioxide and methane.

Full article:http://www.livescience.com/animals/cows-belch-methane-greenhouse-gas-supplement-100908.html

[pgodbold]

1. Perhaps a cowtalytic converter.

[Beaverhausen]

2. Why not just stop feeding corn to cows? They can't digest it.

Cows are supposed to eat grass. duh

[truedelphi]

3. Do you know what else offsets a cow's methane belches -

Good old dairy farming in sustainable practices. Where for every cow, there are acres of scrub brush, acres of trees.

I live in a County where most of the cows are raised in that manner. It is a delight to see the animals interact with the deer and the rabbits. And in one pasture, the horses got together and "drove" the cows to a different part of the pasture, so they could have the spring wild flowers.

But that would be too common sensible. Instead, the factory setting for cows is now the only option most people even think of. Even a recent Planet Green TV show featured cows inside a dismal barn with only dust at their ankles when they were outside. But hey, the methane the cows produced was being stored -sin this large sink hole covered with an acre of plastic. That was really something to consider - and makes me ashamed of what nonsense passes for "environmental" these days.

[truedelphi]

4. Also the numbers of 37 percent of the methane is from cows is nonsense

Ask the people compiling this statistic if they even consider what percentage of methane is coming from other operations, and you find out that they omit major methane sources to arrive at their numbers.