{"id":46070,"date":"2019-07-09T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=46070"},"modified":"2019-07-08T08:35:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T13:35:09","slug":"%ef%bb%bfwhats-the-beef-with-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=46070","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffWhat\u2019s the beef with cows?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Casey Jensen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtland senior<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a\nwarm August Saturday night and you are walking through the beef barn at your\nlocal county fair. What is the first thing you notice? Probably not the methane\nemissions from the livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nimagine that it was a barn full of running cars. Would you still want to walk\nthrough?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more\nthan a century now, the beef industry has been a crucial part of the Midwest\neconomy. So why are cows getting such a bad rap all of a sudden? One main\nreason environmentalists pick on beef is because of methane, a greenhouse gas\nthat cattle produce, which is 28 times stronger at retaining heat in the\natmosphere in comparison to carbon dioxide, according to Sara Place of the\nNational Cattlemen\u2019s Beef Association. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nUnited States is one of the most efficient producers of beef in the world,\nranking fourth in total number of cattle while No. 1 in total beef production.\nThe U.S. keeps producing more and more beef with less head and has been since\nthe mid \u201970s. Not only are we producing more with less, the cattle themselves\nare becoming more efficient, requiring less feed, water, and land. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S.\nEnvironmental Protection Agency said in its 2016 study that the leading cause\nof greenhouse gasses in the U.S. was electricity production at around 28\npercent, while all of animal production only racks up a total of 3.9 percent.\nMany studies that show that livestock represents over half of the emissions,\nusually targeting beef, but what most people do not take the time to\ninvestigate is how they come up with these numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One study\nsuggested that livestock accounted for more greenhouse gas than the whole\ntransportation sector, which caused a whirlwind in the national media. To come\nup with this number, every single aspect of the beef production was accounted\nfor in the emissions report, from fertilizer production to grow feed to the\nactual direct emissions from the cattle. But when they looked at\ntransportation, they did not take such a vast approach, which skewed the data.\nSince then the publishers have come forth and claimed their error. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will\ngiving up beef help save the environment? I would say that it probably will\nnot. A study from the University of California-Davis said that if the new trend\nof meatless Mondays was embraced by everyone in the United States, it would\nonly decrease the total emissions by a half of a percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\nelse can be done to help the environment but not hurt the beef economy?\nUC-Davis might be onto something. Research they conducted in 2018 cut the\nnormal methane emissions of a cow in half. So how did they do it and why is no\none talking about it? Surprisingly, the key ingredient was seaweed. There were\nthree groups in the trial; the first group received 1 percent of its daily feed\nintake as seaweed, the second received half a percent, and the third none. The\ntrial was repeated on three separate occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nresults were stunning just after the first day of the trial. Methane emissions\nwere cut in half for the cattle that received the high dose of seaweed. The\nseaweed inhibited an enzyme in the cows\u2019 first stomach, the rumen, which helps\ncause the production of methane gas. There is still a long way to go with this\nto make it a sustainable answer, but it is a good start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beef\nproduction is a key part to the Midwest\u2019s economy and a way of life for many\npeople. Beef producers and ranchers are dedicated environmental stewards and\ntake pride in preserving the land for future generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casey Jensen, a 2015 Pike Valley High School graduate, graduated this spring with a degree in agricultural business from Fort Hays State University. He is the son of Kirk and Stephanie Jensen, Courtland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This essay on a topic in agriculture was researched and written by a student as part of a project in a senior animal science class at Fort Hays State University. The project director is Dr. Brittany Howell, associate professor of agriculture, bjhowell@fhsu.edu<\/a>, 785-628-4015.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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