Originally published at: Feed additive reduces cow methane output by 55% | Boing Boing
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Is this also available for humans? Asking for a friend
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Cool, now we can clear twice as much land to raise twice as many cattle!
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You beat me to it. 
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I’ve ‘herd’ it’s more burps than farts.
Either way, cows need to mind their manners if they want to be eaten by us humans.
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Earlier studies using seaweed showed 80…98% reductions.
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I kept thinking it was “Beano for cows” but haven’t delved into the ingredients list to compare the products.
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You know what else reduces cows’ methane output? Feeding them grass, which their bodies are actually evolved to digest properly, instead of grain.
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Beano?
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Yes, this is just greenwashing. There are about a billion bovines on the planet at the moment. A lot simply graze, so there’s no opportunity for the supplement until the final weeks of their lives (when they’re ‘fattened up’.) Like we’re going to see any significant portion of those billions given a supplement, and just for a short portion of their life.
Simple and 100% effective way to reduce bovine climate emissions: reduce or stop eating and drinking bovine products.
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Maybe they could bundle it with ivermectin, which could lead to less flatulence on rightwing social media.
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It makes you wonder where else we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Taco Bell begins laughing nervously
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Eat smarter, not farter.
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I’m impressed that I made it 400 words into this article (admittedly including the very long blockquote in the middle) before being actively exhorted to become a vegan. That has to be some kind of vegan reticence world record.
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“even higher percentages (up till 90%) for beef cows.“
That’s great. Think I’ll make a burger tonight.
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So…Gas-X for cows?
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Anyways…
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Wow, that stat of 144 lbs per year for an average American seems really high to me. We’re no vegans, but I just did the rough math and it comes in around 1/4 lb per person, per week, tops. So for every couple like us there’s one eating much, much more.
I’m aware of all the implications around eating meat in general, but have to agree with other posters here that advocating for more sustainable, locally produced meat is a good angle. For one thing, it just costs more, so we’d eat less of it. For another, it bolsters local food networks, which are generally more resilient to catastrophes.
And for a third, I like to know the name of who I’m eating…
(Kidding on that last one, of course.)
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I’m surprised I made it this far into the comments before some omnivore made some unfunny crack about being evangelized to by vegans in an article about the unsustainable meat industry. That has to be some kind of omnivore reticence world record.
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