{"id":55615,"date":"2020-06-05T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T14:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=55615"},"modified":"2020-06-02T08:49:50","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:49:50","slug":"%ef%bb%bfdeath-by-farting-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=55615","title":{"rendered":"\ufeffDeath by farting cows?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Justin Morrison<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cimarron sophomore<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the introduction\nof the New Green Deal in February of last year, the beef industry has suffered\nan onslaught of misinformation. While the proposal encompasses a wide array of\nissues, the one that everyone seems to hang up on is the evil \u201cfarting cow\u201d and\nthe \u201cenvironmentally destructive\u201d animal agriculture industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of us\ninvolved in animal agriculture, the term \u201cfarting cows\u201d is pure nonsense. For\nthose whose only knowledge of cattle comes from the slew of mainstream media\nmisinformation, the farting cow and global warming crisis is an easy bandwagon\nto jump on. A large majority of people in animal agriculture are aware of\nclimate change, but is the farting cow crisis something we should actually be\nconcerned about? The answer is yes and no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization<\/a> published a study titled \u201cLivestock\u2019s\nLong Shadow<\/a>,\u201d\nwhich received widespread international attention. The study stated that\nlivestock produced a staggering 18 percent of the world\u2019s greenhouse gas\nemissions, more than all modes of transportation combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the study came out, people everywhere were in\ndisbelief. Dr. Frank Mitloehner of the University of California-Davis pointed\nout the flaw in a 2010 speech to colleagues. He found that the FAO took into\nconsideration every\nfactor associated with producing meat, including emissions from fertilizer\nproduction, converting land from forests to pastures, growing feed, and direct\nemissions from animals from birth to death, while they ignored impacts on the\nclimate from manufacturing vehicle materials and parts, assembling vehicles and\nmaintaining roads, bridges and airports and instead only considered the exhaust\nemitted by finished cars, trucks, trains and planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the FAO\u2019s\ncomparison of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock to those from\ntransportation was greatly distorted. The FAO owned up to its error, but the\ninitial claim had already received too much media attention. This flawed study\nhas since been used over and over in the climate change conversation. So, what\nare the actual numbers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2016 study conducted by the Environmental Protection\nAgency said that electricity production and transportation each accounted for\n28 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Industry was\nresponsible for 22 percent, while all of agriculture accounted for a total of 9\npercent. All animal agriculture contributes less than half of this amount \u2013 3.9 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions<\/a>. These numbers are far less than\ntransportation GHG emissions and further shows how outlandish the United\nNations claims are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To further debunk the concept of farting cows, we must\nknow the anatomy of the animal itself and how they produce greenhouse gases.\nCattle are ruminants, which have four compartments in their stomach. The\nlargest compartment is the rumen, where fermentation occurs through the process\nknown as rumination. When cellulose is broken down by rumen microbes, it\nproduces acetic acid, with methane gas as a byproduct, which is released\nthrough eructation, or belching \u2013 not \u201cfarting\u201d via the other end of the\nanimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methane is converted to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere\nthrough a process called hydroxyl oxidation. While the process takes 10 years,\nthe amount of methane in the atmosphere remains constant as new methane is\ncreated and old methane is destroyed. This is important because methane levels\nin the atmosphere stays stable as long as the livestock herd stays stable. This\nsame concept is true for the carbon dioxide levels produced in methane\ndestruction. Ultimately, no new carbon is added to the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, new carbon dioxide from burning fossil\nfuels will remain in the atmosphere for almost a thousand years, and there is\nno process to equalize its production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With all this being said, it does not mean that we should\nsimply sit back and do only what is necessary to keep GHG levels stable. If you\nlook to mainstream media for a solution, going vegan or artificial meat is all\nthe craze these days. This, however, is not a solution. In fact, it is actually\nmore detrimental to the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent article in The Independent highlighted the\nresults of a scientific study from the Oxford Martin School on the\nenvironmental effects of artificially produced meat. The study concluded that\ncultured meat was not necessarily climatically superior to cattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They reached their conclusion after examining various\nproduction methods for cultured meat and their energy demands. Further\nexamination revealed that GHG emissions produced by the energy generation\nneeded to produce cultured meat were far greater than the GHG emissions\nproduced by livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people continue to think that avoiding meat as infrequently as once a week<\/a> will make a significant\ndifference. But, according to a recent study conducted by Mitloehner and\npublished in The Conversation, even if Meatless Monday were to be adopted by\nall Americans, we\u2019d see a reduction of only 0.5 percent, and if Americans\neliminated all animal protein from their diets, they would reduce U.S.\ngreenhouse gas emissions by\nonly 2.6 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of trying to eliminate animals from agriculture\nand meat from our diets, we should become informed about steps being taken by\nproducers to lower GHG emissions. One way to reduce methane production is\nthrough feed additives known as ionophores, which work by reducing bacteria\nthat break down cellulose into acetic acid plus methane, and boost the number\nof bacteria that produce propionic acid without methane. Both are metabolized\nby the animal. By feeding ionophores, producers increase efficiency as well as\ncut back on greenhouse gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New ways of reducing emissions are continually being\nresearched. In a recent Penn State University study published on The Bullvine,\na new feed additive known as 3-NOP inhibits an enzyme that is crucial to the\nfinal stage of methane synthesis in a cow\u2019s rumen. It decreased methane\nemissions by 25 percent and boosted the cows\u2019 feed efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should we be more\nconcerned about the farting cow crisis?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d because the\n\u201cfarting cow\u201d is debunked by a basic understanding of ruminant animals, and\nemissions of animal agriculture are far less than that of other industries or\ntransportation and can be sustained at current levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes,\u201d because part of\nbeing a responsible producer revolves around how we care for the environment,\nunderstanding that we must do whatever it takes to leave the environment in the\nbest possible condition for the next generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing so will ensure\nthat producers will be able to continue their way of life and better themselves\nthrough the same determination and hard work that has pushed the industry\nthrough adversity time and time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin Morrison is a\nsophomore majoring in animal science at Fort Hays State University. He is the\nson of Clint and Loretta Morrison, Cimarron.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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