Moose methane
April 24, 2008
Researchers in Norway claim that a grown moose can produce 2,100 kilos of methane a year — equivalent to the CO2 output resulting from a 13,000 kilometer car journey.
Now, at last, we know the biggest contributors to global warming!
Norway is apparently concerned that its national animal, the moose, is harming the climate through its belching and farting…
Actually it’s not nearly as much as good ol’ bessie.
Cows emit signiifcant amounts of methane and there are a LOT more of them. North America has more than 100 million cattle, hundreds of millions of hogs and feeder pigs, and more than 2 billion chickens, together emitting billions of tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gasses every year.
The 2004 State of the World stated “Belching, flatulent livestock emit 16 percent of the world’s annual production of methane.”
The July 2005 issue of Physics World states: “The animals we eat emit 21 percent of all the CO2 that can be attributed to human activity.”
What to do?
A study in Canada found 20 different ways to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock—each of them capable of cutting these emissions by one-third.
The Canadian authors, Karin Wittinberg and Dinah Boadi of the University of Manitoba, say that such methane reduction strategies should be a top priority in any greenhouse gas reduction effort.
Simply grinding and pelleting the feeds for confinement animals reduced methane by 20 to 40 percent, because it makes the feed more fully digestible.
Steers grazing on high-quality alfalfa-grass pastures emit 50 percent less methane than steers grazing on mature grass-only pastures. Rotational grazing—changing where the cows graze every few days—also cuts methane emissions. It would cost only a few dollars per acre to encourage farmers to rotatationally graze, replant their pastures more often, and use higher-quality forages because the better pastures also produce more meat and milk for the farmer’s profit.
Methane emissions in feedlot cattle were reduced by one-third when 4 percent canola oil was added to cattle feedlot rations. The canola oil costs only slightly more than comparable grain calories.
Genetically engineered bovine growth hormone reduces methane emissions by 10 percent in dairy cattle. The growth hormone hasn’t even been legalized in Canada, thanks largely to opposition from activist groups such as Greenpeace!
Keeping young pigs and poultry separated by age groups, and phasing their feeds by growth stages can cut greenhouse emissions by 50 percent and sharply reduce bad smells too. Again, farmers would need only modest encouragement to use the system because it also increases feed efficiency.
Or you could just stop eating meat….
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