Blaming Cows For Global Warming Not Accurate

A new beef with role of cows in global warming

November 20, 2010
Alex Horkay
TheStar.com
Statistics have been giving us a bum steer when they state how much cattle methane emissions contribute to global warming, a new study shows.


That's because mathematical equations used to predict cows' methane emissions are inaccurate and don't take into account factors such as dietary changes, said Jennifer Ellis, lead author of the study and a PhD student at the University of Guelph.


When cattle burp up their cud, they discharge methane with it, due to microbial fermentation occurring in their complex stomachs.


“Diet can change CH4 (methane) emissions quite a lot. For example, between two and 12 per cent of the energy a cow consumes will be lost as CH4,” she said.

When an equation calculates the quantity of methane emissions on one farm, it can't be used to accurately determine how much greenhouse gas is created worldwide because there is so much difference in cattle diet around the world and from farm to farm.    Read More

While most of the anti-ag groups are quick to try blaming cows for global warming, common sense scientists have shown that it’s not that simple.  There are so many factors that determine the amount of methane produced by a cow so it’s nearly impossible to determine any impact based on current models.  It’s unfortunate that these anti-ag groups have to try tricking people with false information to gain support and turn them against farming and ranching families.

Reporting the Hype, Not the Facts

Chefs now offering low-carbon diets to help save the planet
In the effort to save the planet from carbon emissions, chefs are saying eat less feedlot beef. That's because feedlot beef is by far the biggest creator of carbon gases. Fed on corn instead of the grass it was meant to eat, cows simply belch and pass wind a lot, creating much of the CO2 that's harming the earth. Bon Appétit Management Co. and other corporate food-service operators are turning to lower-carbon foods like chicken in an effort to change eating habits while reducing their carbon footprints.
By Paula Bock

SO YOU THINK trading in your gas guzzler for a hybrid will save the planet?

Try cutting back on cheeseburgers! And mangos! And fish flown in "fresh" from the southern hemisphere!

Old millennium: Low-carb diets. The new cool: Low-carbon diets. As in eat green. As in healthy for the environment. As in reduce global warming by minding what you swallow.

Just ask the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. A few years ago, it released a study showing that livestock cause more harm to the environment than all global transportation systems combined. Numero Uno emission emitter? Beef.

If Americans reduced meat consumption by just 20 percent, a University of Chicago study found, it'd be like all of us switching from a standard sedan to an ultraefficient Prius. A Japanese study estimated that raising 2.2 pounds of beef creates the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide as driving an average European car for 155 miles or burning a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.
Producing a pound of feedlot beef creates the equivalent of 14.8 pounds of CO2. By comparison, a pound of pork creates the equivalent of 3.8 pounds of CO2; chicken, the equivalent of 1.1 pounds.
Why do cattle have such a huge carbon hoof print? Surprisingly, it's not so much because of transport from feedlot to fast-food joint or land cleared for grazing or even the chemical fertilizers used to grow the feed, though all that also adds up.

It's largely because cornfed cattle pass a lot of gas. Read More


Here’s another example of activism as compared to journalism. If this reporter had done some actual research as opposed to regurgitating common misconceptions, they would have learned there’s a different story to be told. For example, the writer seems to think that cattle will only produce methane if they are being fed a grain based diet. Methane is a byproduct of rumination, not the diet. There is also evidence that suggests grain fed beef actually produce less emissions over their lifetime compared to other production methods. Along with that, even though rumination produces methane, that is the process that allows us to convert indigestible forages into human consumable protein. It allows us to utilize the vast majority of land on this planet that doesn’t allow for farming. The University of Chicago study that is cited is the same one that Michael Pollan used to cite as well until the authors of that study clarified that that wasn’t true. It’s another example of the sad state of journalism today.

UN Report Debunked Again

Eat Less Meat, Reduce Global Warming -- or Not
FOXNews.com

Reducing consumption of meat and dairy products might not have a major impact in combating global warming despite claims that link diets rich in animal products to production of greenhouse gases.

Save the planet, eat less meat ... right? That's what the U.N. said, anyway, but one scientist has a grade A beef with that claim.

The largely reported link between global warming and cattle farming -- propagated by a United Nations report on "Livestock's Long Shadow" -- was also largely inaccurate, explains one scientist.

In a presentation before the 239th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Frank Mitloehner of the University of California said the misleading claims emanate from a 2006 U.N. report, which said that livestock was "responsible for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions," describing the figure as "a larger share than transportation."

According to Mitloehner, the claim is inaccurate because the numbers for livestock were calculated differently from the transport figures.

In the report, the livestock emissions included gases produced by growing animal feed; animals' digestive emissions; and processing meat and milk into foods. But the transportation analysis factored in only emissions from fossil fuels burned while driving, and not all other transport-lifecycle related factors.

"This lopsided analysis is a classical apples-and-oranges analogy that truly confused the issue," he said. Read More

Since the UN report came out, we have been telling anyone who would listen that the claims of livestock destroying the planet weren’t accurate. Finally, as more of the claims about global warming continue to be debunked, so do the claims about the role of livestock. Livestock aren’t destroying the planet, they are feeding the planet. They are turning raw, human-indigestible products and turning them into an incredibly nutrient-dense consumable protein source. That’s the real story that needs to be told and celebrated. Every time I think about this incredible process it makes me proud to be part of it.

Cattle Methane Production

Less grass, less gas, says cattle researcher
Linda Shepertycki, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, October 30, 2008

WINNIPEG -- A University of Manitoba scientist says he's figured out how to cut the amount of greenhouse gas belching from cows by as much as 200 litres a day -- feed them grain instead of grass.

For the past four years, Ermias Kebreab has been analysing cow burps at the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment south of Winnipeg to measure the amount of methane dairy cows produce when they are fed different types of food.

About 98 per cent of the methane from a cow is emitted through its mouth -- "only two per cent comes out the other way," said Mr. Kebreab.

Traditional wisdom holds that grass is less of a contributor to global warming than more energy-intensive crops like grain.

However, Mr. Kebreab's report, published in the Journal of Animal Science, shows that may not be the case.

The grass-fed cows produced 600 to 700 litres of methane per day, compared to about 500 litres a day per grain-fed cow, Mr. Kebreab said. Read More

This is a very interesting study to think about. It throws a wrench into everything the environmentalist crowd has been trying to sell the public about animal agriculture. Not only do grain fed cattle produce less methane than cattle on grass, but when fed a higher concentrate diet, those cattle reach market weights faster. Producing less methane with fewer days on feed makes it appear as though America’s corn fed beef is actually helping the environment. It’s doubtful you will see environmentalists touting this study anytime soon, but this is some great information to have ready to share with the consumer.

Don't Blame Livestock

Cows, sheep not gassier
David McKenzie
October 30, 2008

LIVESTOCK producers can rest easy. A recent surge in methane gases in the atmosphere has nothing to do with cows and sheep belching more.

CSIRO researcher Dr Paul Fraser says increased ice-melting in high latitudes in the Arctic and ozone recovery in the atmosphere are the most likely causes.

"The livestock industry is not implicated," he said.

A new study by Dr Fraser and US and UK researchers has found that after eight years of near-zero growth in atmospheric methane concentrations, levels have started rising again.

Dr Fraser said the rapid growth in methane in the atmosphere over the past year was geographically concentrated, ruling out livestock as a source. Read More

Fresh off the heels of the UN study, in which they are urging people to give up meat in order to prevent global warming, US and UK researchers from MIT and Bristol University have shown that livestock are not to blame for the rise in methane in the atmosphere. The importance of the ruminant animal in our food production system is underappreciated by people that don’t understand it’s function. In order to double our agricultural output by the middle of this century, it will be vital for us to use these animals to convert plant material into protein suitable for human consumption.

Improving our Cattle

SDSU dairy research considers history of methane emissions
By SDSU Extension


BROOKINGS, S.D. - Modern dairy cows produce more methane than their predecessors, but fewer dairy herds and a smaller dairy cow population has resulted in less overall methane emission.

South Dakota State University Extension Dairy Specialist Alvaro Garcia, along with James Linn, head of the University of Minnesota Department of Animal Science, looked at the role cattle and dairy cows play in methane emission.

Garcia and Linn presented their findings at the 2008 American Dairy Science Association meeting in Indianapolis.

They compared today's dairy herds to those of 1924, the first year U.S.Department of Agriculture cattle and dairy statistics were compiled. Read More

Agriculture has continually been improving its efficiency and this is a great look back at how far we have come. Being able to produce more with less is how we can continue to feed a growing population. This is another one of the great stories that agriculture has to tell.

Livestock and Greenhouse Gasses

Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock addressed
Greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand livestock are being exempted from the country's new emission trading scheme.

"It would be wrong to say that we should stop consuming animal products as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the goal must be to produce more animal protein in a more environmentally sustainable way," Barry O'Neil, deputy director general of MAF Biosecurity New Zealand and president of the World Organisation for Animal Health OIE, said in London last week.

"Animals certainly are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, but will be exempt from the emissions trading scheme until 2012. This is because we are working on research that will reduce emissions. I think there is some quite promising research 3-5 years away, that could achieve a quite tangible reduction, certainly in our ruminants anyway." Link