Plastic tank to catch cow farts
Some cows in Argentina have a plastic tank attached to their back. Reason? To study the amount of greenhouse gases the cows produce. With this knowledge, better solutions can be designed in a bid to stop global warming.
accounts for more than 30 per cent of the country’s total greenhouse emissions.
As one of the world’s biggest beef producers, Argentina has more than 55 million
cows grazing in its famed Pampas grasslands.
Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National
Institute of Agricultural Technology
, said every cow
produces between 8,000 to 1,000 litres of emissions every day.
Methane, which is also released from landfills, coal mines
and leaking gas pipes, is 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the
atmosphere than carbon dioxide. Scientists are now carrying out trials of new
diets designed to improve cow’s digestion and hopefully reduce global warming.
Silvia Valtorta, of the National Council of Scientific and Technical
Investigations, said that by feeding cows clover and alfalfa instead of grain
“you can reduce methane emissions by 25 percent”.
Related
news:
Bovine hormone cuts down methane gas
Methane emissions cut by feeding garlic
Sweden studies methane from cow burps
New insights in methane reducing
plants
Join 26,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the feed sector, three times a week.
