They may look cute, but cows have a huge flatulence problem that is wreaking havoc on our planet.
Livestock produce enormous amounts of methane – a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
Now scientists think they finally have a solution to this problem.
Experts from the University of California, Davis, say feeding seaweed to cows could make them fart less.
According to the new research, this tactic could reduce methane emissions from cows by as much as 40 percent.
Best of all, the team says seaweed is easy for farmers to implement – and has no impact on the health or weight of the cows.
‘This method paves the way to make a seaweed supplement easily available to grazing animals,’ says Professor Ermias Kebreab, senior author of the study.
‘Farmers could even introduce the seaweed to their livestock via a lick block.’
Livestock produce huge amounts of methane – a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere
Experts from the University of California, Davis, say feeding cows seaweed could make them fart less
Previous studies have shown that livestock are responsible for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
And most of it comes from methane that cattle emit when they fart and burp.
Grazing cattle (which are allowed to roam outdoors) also produce more methane than cattle (which are raised on a pasture) or dairy cows.
That’s because they eat more fiber from grass.
‘Beef cattle only spend about three months on feedlots and spend most of their lives grazing on pasture and producing methane,’ explains Professor Kebreab.
Despite this, researchers have so far only looked at the impact of feeding seaweed to pastured cattle and dairy cows.
This new study is the first in the world to test seaweed on grazing beef cattle.
For the 10-week experiment, the team went to a ranch in Dillon, Montana, where they divided 24 steers into two groups.
One group received the seaweed supplement, the other did not.
An analysis of the cows’ flatulence showed that the cows that consumed the seaweed supplement produced 40 percent less methane than those that did not.
Based on the findings, the researchers call for a seaweed supplement to be rolled out worldwide to grazing livestock.
“We need to make this seaweed additive or any feed additive more accessible to grazing livestock to make livestock farming more sustainable while meeting global demand for meat,” Professor Kenreab added.