The animal feed industry is complex. While the man in the street believes that livestock eats a mixture of grass, hay, grain, and (in the case of pigs) general waste, feed producers know that modern farm nutrition is a scientific combination of bulk fibres, proteins, minerals, salts, phosphates, sodium tripolyphosphate, and potassium carbonate.
With these complex biochemical mixtures it is the responsibility of the animal feed industry to help feed a growing, hungry world. But as in many industries, animal feed producers must also share their responsibility for climate change.
It has long been known that mankind’s hunger for meat and dairy products is having a negative impact on the environment. Not only is wildlife cleared for grazing areas, but cattle also have an impact on the environment in the amount of methane they produce. This has led to the public perception of an environmentally destructive farming and animal feed industry. A concept fuelled by stories such as this, “the world’s top destroyer of the environment, is not the car, or even the plane: it is the cow.” And that was from the respected British newspaper the Independent.
This story, and many others like it, was based on “A United Nations report [by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, called Livestock’s Long Shadow] which has identified the world’s rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.”
Meanwhile, other reports in the press or on social media paint an equally gloomy picture. For example, a YouTube video called Cow Farts and Climate Change, states how, “Each cow’s emissions are about the same as burning 1,000 litres of petrol every year.” Explaining how, “Cow’s are mostly responsible for 18% of the total greenhouse gases world-wide, which is more than the entire transportation system put together.”
Impressive as the statistics may be, science is now looking at ways to lessen the impact of livestock. Part of this process includes analysing even basic animal feedstuffs, such as grass; for it now seems that climate change is impacting even grazing.
A recent study by a research team from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, Scotland’s Rural College, and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, have found that warmer average temperatures is making plants tougher. When the tougher vegetation is eaten by livestock, it then produces even more methane, which in turn adds to global warming.
Reporting on the study, the online industry journal FarmingUK, states that, “There are several reasons why rising temperatures may make plants tougher for grazing livestock to digest. Plants have adaptations to prevent heat damage, they can flower earlier, have thicker leaves or in some cases, tougher plants can invade into new areas replacing more nutritious species – all of which makes grazing more difficult.” Adding that the problem is a, “pressing concern, because climate change is likely to make plants tougher for grazing cattle, increasing the amount of methane that the animals breathe out into the atmosphere.”
Dr Mark Lee, a research fellow in Natural Capital & Plant Health at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew who led the research says: “The vicious cycle we are seeing now is that ruminant livestock such as cattle produce methane which warms our planet.
“This warmer environment alters plants so they are tougher to digest, and so each mouthful spends more time in the animals’ stomach, producing more methane, further warming the planet, and the cycle continues. We need to make changes to livestock diets to make them more environmentally sustainable.”
Fortunately, the study, which is downloadable here via the open access biogeosciences website, also offers suggestions on how this problem can be solved, stating that, “Cattle methane production can be reduced by growing more nutritious forage plants, adding N fertiliser, adding feed supplements (e.g. macroalgae and fats), adjusting rumen pH, increasing concentrate feeding, practicing genetic selection and feeding methane inhibitors.” However, it continues by adding that, “implementing many of these measures is not feasible at a global scale and is unlikely to result in sufficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to meet ambitious reduction targets.”
While the industry is looking into some ways to tackle the problem of cow gas, for example researchers in Canada are experimenting with selective breeding, in an effort to find ‘cows that burp less’. It is clear that many of these ideas will take a lot more research, time, and money before a global solution will be found.
For example, the technology website FastCompany, is reporting that, “[Researchers] are experimenting with vaccines that fight the microbes that make cows produce methane, or backpacks that cows wear to capture their gas for energy.”
It also adds that, “Many others are experimenting with plant-based supplements that can be added to cow feed to help. A byproduct of cashew nut processing, for example, can reduce emissions by 8%. Furthermore, if cows graze in pasture, adding plants like legumes can make them burp less.” The report also notes that, “Researchers in Denmark are working on a ‘super grass’, bred after analyzing the genetics of which grasses are easiest to digest.”
However, the fact remains that the farming industry has a problem that few feed manufacturers or suppliers wish to talk about. The world is demanding more meat and dairy, but wants more sustainable products with lower carbon footprints, and yet even the most basic of animal feeds, grass, is proving more toxic for the planet.
Added to this is the fact that protein additives from fishmeal are also widespread, continuing to put huge pressure on ocean fish stocks. While other feedstocks, such as inorganic rock phosphate, are also unsustainable and yet remain a vital pillar of agriculture. When these factors are added in to the news that simple grazing is also having a worse impact on the environment, then the environmental credentials of the entire livestock industry is under scrutiny.
For if the study is validated, and proves that even grass and natural grazing is an increasing hazard to the environment, then is there anything the feed industry can do to become more sustainable?
Is there any way to avoid the environmental impact of cow gas?