Why Our World Needs Cows
The narrative of, “cows are the worst thing for the environment,” has been said for over a decade and yet, here we are, still debunking it.
When this theory came out in 2006, this created other threads about cows that again, made cows and dairy farmers alike, to be the worst animal on the planet. These effects continue today and have caused consumers across the globe to assume that dairy production is in fact the worst occupation.
The truth is, is that cows do help the planet. Here are a few ways that they do:
Cows are carbon neutral.
This means that since cattle eat plants, and following rumination, their stomachs (yes stomachs!) use methanogens to digest. Then when it leaves the body via belching as methane, it will stay in the air for 8-10 years. After that though, it converts into one part CO2 and two parts H2O (Hurd, 2021).
Cows provide grazing benefits
Believe it or not, not all of the land in the United States is suitable for crop production. Those sections of land are perfect for livestock, however. When cattle graze lands, their manure serves as not just a fertilizer to the land, but also as a catalyst for increased biodiversity, water holding capacity, and increased organic matter content (Public Lands Council, 2019).
Cows reduce wildfires.
Having cattle graze on lands that are prone to wildfires, decreases fuel moisture content, how long the potential fire could go, and intensity of the fire overall (Daives, 2022).
Increasing cow productivity does help the environment.
Dairy farmers have always been looking for ways to be more efficient. Asking questions like:
—How can I increase my milk production?
—How can I cut down on feed costs?
—How can I ensure that my cow(s) gets pregnant for the next cycle?
Questions like these are being answered. Being able to answer these questions and continue to improve, is a sure sign that dairy farmers are looking for methods to decrease their impact on the environment. Simply put, the more efficient we can be with production, the lower our environmental impact (McCabe, 2021).
Needless to say, I’m excited for the future of the Dairy industry. I’m excited to see how farmers and scientists alike are going to partner together to continue to better the industry and the environment. Who knows? Maybe we will come up with a way to use cattle manure to power our business buildings in inner cities? ;)
