Which emissions are worse?: Cows vs. Keystone Pipeline

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

For Climate Alarmists, both cows and oil are bad.  Since I grew up on a dairy farm with 50 cows and I strongly support oil & gas, clearly I am a special kind of evil.  Bwahahahahaha

 

Farmers to feed cows seaweed to cut down on gas emissions

About a quarter of the methane in the country comes from cattle, which produce the gas when they belch or flatulate

 

Which emissions are worse?: Cows vs. Keystone Pipeline

WSJ senior energy reporter Russell Gold weighs in on the Keystone Pipeline, fracking and livestock’s impact on the environment.

FREEPORT, Maine (AP) -- Coastal Maine has a lot of seaweed, and a fair number of cows. A group of scientists and farmers think that pairing the two could help unlock a way to cope with a warming world.

The researchers -- from a marine science lab, an agriculture center and universities in northern New England -- are working on a plan to feed seaweed to cows to gauge whether that can help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

About a quarter of the methane in the country comes from cattle, which produce the gas when they belch or flatulate.

The concept of feeding seaweed to cows has gained traction in recent years because of some studies that have shown its potential to cut back on methane. The reduction might be because the seaweed interrupts the process of production of the gas in the animals' guts.

One of the big questions is which kinds of seaweed offer the highest benefit to farmers looking to cut methane, and the researchers hope to find out, said Nichole Price, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine, and the project's leader.  ...

 

[Gerry Maddoux + 3,627]

12 hours ago, Tom Kirkman said:

About a quarter of the methane in the country comes from cattle, which produce the gas when they belch or flatulate

Please, let's keep to science!

Cows have multiple stomachs, regurgitate gallons of methane, but fart very little. They are dangerous!

Dinosaurs are said to have had multiple stomachs as well. Can you imagine the amount of methane they could burp?

It has been postulated that the methane rising in the Arctic Ice Circle and the GOM is from all those dinosaurs, burping yet. 

On the farm and ranch where I grew up, we didn't ponder this sort of thing. It was after I got old and foolish that it became mainstream.

[specinho + 439]

On 12/30/2019 at 8:34 PM, Tom Kirkman said:

Which emissions are worse?: Cows vs. Keystone Pipeline

 

15 hours ago, Gerry Maddoux said:

It has been postulated that the methane rising in the Arctic Ice Circle and the GOM is from all those dinosaurs, burping yet. 

 

[SERWIN + 749]

Well the obvious solution is to lower the price of beef so we will eat more of it, ridding us of those pesky cow farts that are killing us all. Wait, that means that the ranchers will have even more cows on their lands so they can produce more beef for us to eat and more cow farts. No, no, no, we need to quit eating beef and put all those ranchers out of business. No, no, no, screw that, we need to corral all those tree hugging idiots up and stuff them in barns full of farting cows. They will expire and all of us will be able to go back to business. What they don't understand is those cows you see in the fields driving down the road are only there because they are happy! Barbed wire fences will not slow a cow down if they want to leave, they just walk through the fence and go about their merry way. We need to give the names and addresses of the tree huggers to the cows and they will take off and go find those losers and rid us of them. Death by cow farts will be the official report....

[SERWIN + 749]

And how much methane has the Keystone Pipeline farted this year?

[Yoshiro Kamamura + 274]

Sadly, Tom Kirkman still hasn't done his homework. The main difference between cows and oil rig is that cows do not introduce new carbon into the circulation - carbon that lied underground for millions of years. 

It's probably too late anyway - as long as shale drillers keep flaring natural gas and people keep driving SUVs to Walmart and back, the most sensible thing you can do is finding a good quality barbecue sauce and cover your body with a nice, thick layer - because you are the grilled steak of tomorrow. For a preview, look what almost 50 Celsius summer temperatures did to Australia this year. 

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

On 12/31/2019 at 12:49 PM, SERWIN said:

And how much methane has the Keystone Pipeline farted this year?

Cowstone Pipeline might be a good solution for passing that gas.

[GunnysGhost + 157]

Why is there so much talk about what comes out of the cow without considering what goes into the cow?

Vegetation (grass) grows off of rotting soil (carbon).  i.e. cows eat carbon. 

These folks that are obsessed with 'emissions' have targeted cows because they 'emit carbon'. 

NEVER MIND THAT THEY EAT CARBON!!!! 

In a cow's lifecycle of birth, eating, farting, dying, rotting.... a COW IS CARBON NEUTRAL. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

So, in an effort to combat humans meddling with nature (climate change), humans will meddle with nature and force cows to eat seaweed.

I am fairly certain that cows would not eat seaweed naturally....

I suppose anything is okay as long as it supports the fight against ‘climate change’.

[NickW + 2,714]

50 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

So, in an effort to combat humans meddling with nature (climate change), humans will meddle with nature and force cows to eat seaweed.

I am fairly certain that cows would not eat seaweed naturally....

I suppose anything is okay as long as it supports the fight against ‘climate change’.

I don't suppose in nature Cows consumed genetically modified soya, synthetic BST hormone, antibiotics, glycerol, or mechanically recovered meat but these are all fed to / have been fed to cattle. 

In contrast coastal communities have for Millenia relied on seaweed as a source of food for cattle and sheep which they will eat in moderate quantities and has the benefit of significantly improving the nutrient content of their food (Iodine, Omega 3's etc). 

If feeding of small quantities of seaweed to cattle has such a profound effect on lowering Methane emissions (which coincidentally will also improve the efficiency of conversion of food to Muscle) I can't see what people objections are. Obtuse is the word I think I'm looking for. 

 

[NickW + 2,714]

3 hours ago, GunnysGhost said:

Why is there so much talk about what comes out of the cow without considering what goes into the cow?

Vegetation (grass) grows off of rotting soil (carbon).  i.e. cows eat carbon. 

These folks that are obsessed with 'emissions' have targeted cows because they 'emit carbon'. 

NEVER MIND THAT THEY EAT CARBON!!!! 

In a cow's lifecycle of birth, eating, farting, dying, rotting.... a COW IS CARBON NEUTRAL. 

Perhaps a little more attention to Chemistry and Physics

In goes Carbon from grass which has been photosynthesised from CO2

Out comes Methane (CH4)

Radiative force potentials per molecule of CO2 =1 (100 year time span)

C02:1

CH4: 28

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

1 hour ago, Douglas Buckland said:

So, in an effort to combat humans meddling with nature (climate change), humans will meddle with nature and force cows to eat seaweed.

I am fairly certain that cows would not eat seaweed naturally....

I suppose anything is okay as long as it supports the fight against ‘climate change’.

I don't get your stance on this. Feeding seaweed to cows is practical way of reducing emissions with minimal changes to current lifestyles. win-win in my view. It is a little bit likely Equinor future proofing their oil production by reducing the emissions from the production. 

for an oil industry lover these types of initiatives should be fantastic. I consider myself an eco pragmatist. And I believe that many changes like these is the way forward. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

8 minutes ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said:

I don't get your stance on this. Feeding seaweed to cows is practical way of reducing emissions with minimal changes to current lifestyles. win-win in my view. It is a little bit likely Equinor future proofing their oil production by reducing the emissions from the production. 

for an oil industry lover these types of initiatives should be fantastic. I consider myself an eco pragmatist. And I believe that many changes like these is the way forward. 

My point was that it seems okay to allow humans to interfere with nature in an effort to mitigate the effects of humans interfering with nature (forcing cows to unnaturally ingest seaweed) to combat (supposed) human induced climate change. 

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

Just now, Douglas Buckland said:

My point was that it seems okay to allow humans to interfere with nature in an effort to mitigate the effects of humans interfering with nature (forcing cows to unnaturally ingest seaweed) to combat (supposed) human induced climate change. 

We meddle with nature all the time to maintain our lifestyles. Nothing new there. This to me is choosing a way of meddling that does the least damage. 

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

2 minutes ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said:

We meddle with nature all the time to maintain our lifestyles. Nothing new there. This to me is choosing a way of meddling that does the least damage. 

Okay, understood.

[Rob Plant + 2,601]

Forget seaweed for the moment, read this as its a much better all round natural solution IMO

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/cows-beef-farming-reverse-climate-change-global-warming-a8202121.html

[NickW + 2,714]

1 hour ago, Douglas Buckland said:

My point was that it seems okay to allow humans to interfere with nature in an effort to mitigate the effects of humans interfering with nature (forcing cows to unnaturally ingest seaweed) to combat (supposed) human induced climate change. 

As  stated before seaweed (and river weeds) has been a component of ruminants diets for Millenia in locations where these are available. 

Adding BST hormone, GMO Soya, Glycerol, anti biotics etc hasn't but industrial agriculture readily uses these currently. 

Which of those two are a greater interference in nature? 

 

[Boat + 1,315]

Since Oil Price.com doesn’t post hundreds articles on the dangers of overpopulation instead load the cow in the Gatling gun of talking points. Brilliant.

[NickW + 2,714]

On 1/6/2020 at 4:54 PM, Yoshiro Kamamura said:

Sadly, Tom Kirkman still hasn't done his homework. The main difference between cows and oil rig is that cows do not introduce new carbon into the circulation - carbon that lied underground for millions of years. 

It's probably too late anyway - as long as shale drillers keep flaring natural gas and people keep driving SUVs to Walmart and back, the most sensible thing you can do is finding a good quality barbecue sauce and cover your body with a nice, thick layer - because you are the grilled steak of tomorrow. For a preview, look what almost 50 Celsius summer temperatures did to Australia this year. 

Yes but Ruminants stomachs turn that grass (or other feed) into a much more potent greenhouse gas. 

It appears feeding cows a moderate quantity of seaweed significantly reduces the CH4 emissions. Putting aside global warming concerns increased emissions of CH4 take up the atmospheres stock of Hydroxl radicals which means there are less to deal with other pollutants. 

Coincidentally feeding seaweed to cattle has lots of other benefits.

• It significantly increases the nutrient content of the meat with Omega's 3's & Iodine which are deficient in modern diets and would improve the quality of the 'white water' that Holstein-freisians  produce and help the diary industry counter the march of the fortified soya brigade. 
• Seaweed is packed with minerals so some of this ends up in the Manure which makes it a good organic fertiliser for our exhausted soils
• Seaweed harvesting is utilising an under utilised resource and will create some employment in coastal communities which often have high rates of unemployment / over reliance on seasonal work. I'm thinking in the Uk - coasts of Wales / West Coast of Scotland, West Country - Also West Coast of Ireland) 

As Ramus says this looks like a win - win to me. 

 

 

 

[Boat + 1,315]

Obviously any such cow comments should only be made if you use your real name and a traceable profile. We gotta get control of this forum.  

[butasha + 123]

On 12/30/2019 at 6:34 AM, Tom Kirkman said:

For Climate Alarmists, both cows and oil are bad.  Since I grew up on a dairy farm with 50 cows and I strongly support oil & gas, clearly I am a special kind of evil.  Bwahahahahaha

Tom if you are a special kind of evil then I must be the root of all evil in the world today. I am a male, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant that raises cows, collects royalties on numerous leases, sells water and to top it all off I vote conservative and own numerous guns. I drive a large truck and usually buy my wife her SUV of choice every couple years. Just pure evil. By today's standards anyway. Sarcasm intended? Kinda.

As to the seaweed. Well this winter I am currently putting out 8-1200 pound round bales of hay every 4 days and typically go through 2 tons of 40% cotton seed cubes every 2-3 weeks. I have a rather large feed bill and would be more than happy to try and see if any of my girls would eat some of this new wonder forage from the salty sea. Bet they would. These Brahma crosses will eat damn near anything. Anyone care to donate some?

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,129]

2 hours ago, butasha said:

As to the seaweed. Well this winter I am currently putting out 8-1200 pound round bales of hay every 4 days and typically go through 2 tons of 40% cotton seed cubes every 2-3 weeks. I have a rather large feed bill and would be more than happy to try and see if any of my girls would eat some of this new wonder forage from the salty sea. Bet they would. These Brahma crosses will eat damn near anything. Anyone care to donate some?

Hey, do not bear witness to their religion with economics now

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

2 hours ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Hey, do not bear witness to their religion with economics now

Huh?

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

7 hours ago, butasha said:

Tom if you are a special kind of evil then I must be the root of all evil in the world today. I am a male, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant that raises cows, collects royalties on numerous leases, sells water and to top it all off I vote conservative and own numerous guns. I drive a large truck and usually buy my wife her SUV of choice every couple years. Just pure evil. By today's standards anyway. Sarcasm intended? Kinda.

As to the seaweed. Well this winter I am currently putting out 8-1200 pound round bales of hay every 4 days and typically go through 2 tons of 40% cotton seed cubes every 2-3 weeks. I have a rather large feed bill and would be more than happy to try and see if any of my girls would eat some of this new wonder forage from the salty sea. Bet they would. These Brahma crosses will eat damn near anything. Anyone care to donate some?

Thanks, you just made my morning, and gave me a nice chuckle with my coffee.

P.S. free range dead cows taste great!  Better than pork or chicken.  Venison has a stronger taste, but has less fat.  Family got 5 deer this year, venison to eat all winter long. 

Oh, and 1 deer that got hit by a truck and landed DOA on my front lawn, as the truck sped away, so 1 more free deer to eat this winter.  Impact killed it instantly.

 

[GunnysGhost + 157]

On 1/20/2020 at 10:10 AM, NickW said:

Perhaps a little more attention to Chemistry and Physics

In goes Carbon from grass which has been photosynthesised from CO2

Out comes Methane (CH4)

Radiative force potentials per molecule of CO2 =1 (100 year time span)

C02:1

CH4: 28

"Methane that comes into contact with highly reactive atmospheric gasses like ozone will oxidize on contact usually producing CO2 + H2O. This slow oxidation removes that methane in about 9.6 years."

 

The straight chemistry equation [falsely] assumes that cows are 100% efficient at converting food (captured CO2) to methane.

It's small.  The biomass that cows produce is the vast majority of the CO2 capture.  In fact there have been studies on muck-spreading poor soil areas  [lava fields, etc] with dairy cow manure, get grass to grow there and all of a sudden cows become carbon-capture enablers.