Cows + Greehouse Gas Emissions

Contrary to popular belief, cows are not the problem...

When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, according to the USDA, agriculture contributes 10.5% of worldwide emissions. The cows part in this? Let’s put it this way: If we were to remove all cattle from the face of the earth, we would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.7%...I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem like a good fix (Virginia Tech).

What I do want to share with you is what GOOD dairy cows are doing for the environment—long before being ‘environmentally friendly’ was cool.

Dairy farmers have been doing research on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. US Dairy today, discusses how dairy farmers have been studying lowering methane emissions by studying feed, technology and breeding. 

Methane Digesters: Across the nation dairy farmers have invested in this technology. What it does, is it collects biogas and is regenerated into natural gas to be used as transportation fuel (US Dairy).

Cows are carbon neutral. This means that when a cow consumes feed and/or plants, carbon is taken in. The end result is CO2 being brought back into the atmosphere, which is then used by plants keeping the circle of life going, if you will (Dirt-to-Dinner).

So, are cows the problem? No. Are dairy farmers advancing to decrease their impact? Absolutely. Next time you hear about cows and greenhouse gas emissions, take a look at what our cars and other man made objects are doing. I promise it’s more than the cows ;)