Bad News For Cattle

Friday, 31 October 2008

GreenMuze Staff

Nathan Jones

An extremely unfortunate research conclusion concerning beef cattle and carbon dioxide emissions was presented in a recent report published by Professor Ermias Kebreab at the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment, the University of Winnipeg. This report suggests that greenhouse gases from beef cattle can be reduced by feeding them grain instead of their normal diet of grass.

In his paper, ‘Model for estimating enteric methane emissions from United States dairy and feedlot cattle’, published in this month’s edition of Journal of Animal Science, he compares how much methane is produced from cows eating a grain, or a grass based diet. Professor Ermias Kebreab writes that methane production from enteric fermentation in cattle is one of the major sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission in the United States and worldwide. His conclusions, published in leading newspapers, posit that a grain-based diet will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

This is problematic, convoluted and mis-placed science research. If the Canadian or American government is truly concerned about reducing greenhouse gases, it makes more environmental sense to attempt to reduce meat consumption rather than force the animals to eat an unnatural diet so North Americans can continue to consume cheap beef. Americans, as some of the largest consumers of meat in the world, also practice the cruellest factory farming methods in the world. The three top consumers of meat are the USA, Australia and Canada who just happen to also be some of the largest carbon emitters per head of population. The USA alone consumed more than 28 billion pounds of beef in 2006.

Currently, more than 60% of America’s industrially grown and heavily subsidized corn crop is fed to the country’s 100 million beef cattle. An animal that used to take 2-3 years to prepare for slaughter now takes less than 14-16 months. A beef animal is raised on a bulking diet of corn, coupled with strict confinement to prevent movement, making the cattle fatten as quickly and economically as possible. The result is weak, sickly animals. Corn produces an acidic stomach that requires the use of ‘preventative’ measures, mainly the use of antibiotics, and livestock now consume more than 70% of the antibiotics in the USA.

Forcing cattle to eat an unnatural diet of grain will do little to eliminate the numerous other environmental ramifications of over-consumption of meat; the excessive use of water, plus land and water pollution from faeces, the spread of pesticide used on industrial corn crops and the proliferation of genetically modified corn crops in North America.

greenmuze.com