HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen-Agriculture 98, 1998-03-18, Page 33HAVE YOU SEEN
THIS BIRD?
Many or Canada's migratory birds
are disappearing. To help save
them, call I-800-26-PANDA
and ask about adopting a kilometre
of migratory bird flyway. •
WWF
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(AC) Global warming is
sometimes blamed on cows
because they produce methane
during digestion. But research may
help clear Bossy's name by finding
the straight facts on how much gas
is actually emitted by cattle.
It's already common knowledge
in the world of science that the cow
has probably been unfairly
victimized. Driving your car 3.2
kilometres kicks out as much
methane as a cow produces all day.
One landfill site in the Vancouver
area produces more greenhouse
gases than all the cattle in British
Columbia. On a worldwide scale,
Canadian cattle are responsible for
just 0.15 per cent of the methane
produced.
Still, Canadian cattle can be
made to release less methane.
Poor quality hay diets are
responsible for higher levels of
methane, according to University
of Alberta Professor G. W.
Mathison. If cattle are well fed —
perhaps even overfed with grain —
methane emissions per kilogram of
beef or milk show a remarkable
decrease.
Why do cattle emit methane?
It's just the way they're made.
Cows, like bison, elk and deer, are
ruminant animals which means the
feed brews and ferments — almost
like beer — in the first of their four
stomach compartments. This
prepares the food for the digestion
process in the other stomachs and
intestines.
Mathison compared cows to
other ruminants to see how they
measure up. Bison, elk and deer
have all been tested during
Mathison's 12 years of methane
research. Cattle and bison are the
highest methane emitters while
deer and elk produce less because
food doesn't stay in their system as
long giving less time for methane
to be created.
Mathison also found that cattle
produce more methane in winter
than summer. Methane emissions
increased by 25 per cent in the
cold. While the exact reason is still
unknown, it may be attributable to
a decrease in how efficiently cows
digest in colder temperatures.
Research into cow methane is
also taking place at Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada's Research
Centre in Brandon, Manitoba. Dr.
Paul McCaughey motions grazing
cattle for both what they eat and
how much methane they produce.
Typically, farmers use one of two
grazing systems. Cattle can graze
on a rotational basis, moving from
one pasture to the next, or on a
continual basis. Stocking rates —
increasing or decreasing the
number of cattle grazing on the
same acre of land — was once
thought to have an effect on the
amount of methane produced. But
McCaughey found that while
changing the grazing system or
stocking rate may affect diet
quality it has no bearing on the
amount of methane produced.
He also found the feed additive
monesin — commercially sold with
the promise of reducing methane —
is not effective. Both scientists got
similar results on the amount of
methane an individual cow
produces — between 200 to 400
litres of methane daily or 20 to 40
litres of methane per kilogram of
food.
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 1998. PAGE A-13.
Agriculture '98
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