Fuel Efficient Cows

cow-fart Well this is definitely weird. In response to rising concerns over methane's contribution to global warming, and dairy cow's contribution to methane emissions, an alliance of scientists in Australia and New Zealand hope to breed a better cow.

This multi-million dollar effort comes on the heels of the unsuccessful 'fart tax.' Three cheers for the Aussie tell-it-like-it- is mentality. The goal is to produce cows that create more milk and less methane (the two seem to be linked) through breeding.

Cows are responsible for more than half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions, and while it seems logical to focus on reducing flatulence, it might be time to consider a more direct plan...reducing cows.

Via TerraDaily

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written by a guest, August 22, 2006

Hmmm... if they achieve low-emission cows, will they label the milk with a MPG (Metane-per-gallon) rating so people will know how much green house gas their milk has caused?

Alotta Errata

Hehehe
written by a guest, August 22, 2006

What I want to know is why they don't breed methane producing cows and simply harvest the methane along with the milk. It's not like methane is useless stuff, and, technically, burning it makes it carbon neutral (I think) since the C02 prodcuced by the combustion is the same C02 that the plants consumed before they were eaten by the cow.

-1

test
written by a guest, August 24, 2006

test

cool
written by a guest, August 25, 2006

that is s ofunny

WHY NOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS?
written by a guest, August 25, 2006

Well, leave it to the Aussie's. Will the first succesful female be called Matilda?

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written by a guest, August 25, 2006

So basically, blame the cows, not the humans. :P

Wrong end of the cow
written by a guest, August 25, 2006

Most of the methane that cows produce is released from burping/belching, rather than as flatulence.

This article metions it in the 8th paragraph:

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/07/21/cow.methane.enn/

I know belching isn't as funny as farting, but I just thought I'd mention it.

UGH
written by a guest, August 25, 2006

Can you imagine burping methane??? I guess if you've got seven stomachs in which microorganisms are digesting the undigestable, then it would happen, but it sounds horrible. Worse than a coke burp through the nose....

\"tell-it-like-it- is\"
written by a guest, August 27, 2006

Thanks for the entry. An interesting fact... I'm currently in Australia and "tell-it-like-it- is" is the line used by an ad campaign of a New Zealand phone company called AAPT, here in Australia.

GTW

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written by Rick, October 03, 2006

Contrary to popular belief cows have only four stomachs, not seven. I don't know where the idea of seven stomachs comes from but it is quite a widespread misconception.