Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

I remember doing a post last year about the surprisingly high amount of methane (greenhouse gas) that is being expelled by cattle in the UK. Well, scientists in Australia and New Zealand have developed a new type of grass that will cut the amount of methane cows burp up when chewing the cud. The new grass can also grow in hotter climates.

This means that farmers should be able to maintain dairy herds’ productivity and profitability in the face of a changing climate, while cutting down their gaseous burps and reducing their contribution to global warming, according to the Science Daily report.

According to the IPCC, methane makes up 14.5% of humanity's contribution to global warming. Also, NOAA data, which I just recently blogged about, shows that atmospheric methane levels may be rising again after a 10-year period of stability.

In the UK alone, methane from cattle could account for as much as 3% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions.

But.........

This new grass, which is more digestible, could actually increase a cow's absolute methane emissions, since according to Alistair Macrae, a lecturer in farm animal health and production a diet too rich in highly digestible carbs can actually increase the amount of methane a cow belches out. However, productivity gains would actually mean less methane per unit of milk, says Ian Givens, an animal science professor.

Observation.........

By the way, it's May 12th and it was snowing on my drive into work this morning, here in central Pennsylvania. Reports of an inch of slushy snow nearby. Hopefully, this brief comeback of winter will take out some of those horrible gypsy moth caterpillars which seem to be taking over this region. Last year was bad, but from what I am seeing this year it will probably be the worst outbreak in memory.