Isra-Mart srl:Better diets to stop cows' methane emissions

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Changing what cows and sheep eat could help to trim the 41 per cent of methane emissions that result from farming, a Defra-funded study will say today.

Flatulent cows, goats and sheep account for 4.5 per cent of the UK's overall greenhouse gas emissions - a phenomenon that globally has prompted the UN to consider a "fart tax" on cattle.

Research efforts are underway around the world in an attempt to curb methane emissions from the agricultural sectors, with Canadian and Australian researchers using lasers to detect bovine emissions and German scientists claiming to have developed a pill that reduces cows' methane footprint.

But today's report by Reading University and the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences argues that farmers can cut their contribution to climate change through the use of relatively simple nutritional initiatives.

For example, it cites a short-term trial which found that increasing the proportion of maize silage in a cow's diet from 25 to 75 per cent cut methane emissions per kilogram by six per cent.

Feeding the animals high-sugar grasses was also found to reduce an animal's methane emissions by 20 per cent for every kilo of weight gain.

Similarly, sheep produced a third less methane emissions after eating naked oats, while cows' methane production dropped by 20 per cent per litre of milk produced when they were fed crushed rapeseed.

The study concludes that any benefits gained by changing animals' diets will have to be weighed against other environmental impacts, as well as potential costs and practicality.

Nevertheless, agriculture minister Jim Paice welcomed the findings: "It is very exciting that this new research has discovered that by simply changing the way we feed farm animals we have the potential to make a big difference to the environment."