There are strong opinions around Cattle being ‘Environmental Destructors’.
Hmm. It’s certainly developing as a difficult, debated and disputed question.
So, let’s start with looking at the ‘size’ of the problem. It is argued that nature produces 97% of CO2 and mankind only 3%. Of course, that opens up another huge debate about global warming and what is causing it.
Fingers are being pointed at farming, particularly cattle farting, as a main culprit. And that is being vigorously disputed.
“Cows have a digestion system that emits methane. We need to change cows and work towards artificial meat,” says Bill Gates. He fails to point out that methane from cows breaks down into CO2 & water after 10 years. Grass absorbs the CO2 by photosynthesis & the cycle keeps repeating.
However, it seems that decisions have been made determining
cattle are responsible and subsequently the development of an innovation -
Tinkering with the inner workings of the dairy cow.
When added to Daisy’s daily diet, Bovaer is said to cut
bovine gas emissions by up to 30% overall.
And of course, with these kinds of developments, the end
users and public are the last to know, when the decision is announced and
dumped on them. Just as the launch was
celebrated as making a difference, “… the pesky public were not quite as
‘excited’…indeed some were reaching for the pitchforks. They started poking
around the Bovaer small print and had spotted ingredients like silicon dioxide,
propylene glycol and a compound called 3-nitrooxypropanol (known as 3-NOP)
which US and Japanese authorities have linked to reduce male fertility.” (Robert Hardman/Daily Mail/7
December 2024)
In the UK there are concerns that with the use of Bovaer which is ‘thought’ to prevent climate change, there is a risk not just for animals but potentially for people too. For example, the label states ‘may damage male fertility & reproductive organs.’ And Farmers are recommended to wear protective equipment when feeding Bovaer to cows because it is very toxic to inhale.
Arla Foods Group is a Danish-Swedish multi-national cooperative, the 5th biggest dairy company in the world and one of the first to produce milk from Bovaer treated dairy cattle.
Following massive boycott of
Arla over its trial of Bovaer’s methane-reducing additive, the UK government
has stepped in, committing to mandate the additive for all cows in England by
2030.
To make matters worse, it has emerged that there is more of the ‘stuff’ in the food chain! Producers & retailers are being ‘blacklisted’ and accusations of scaremongering, misinformation and conspiracy theories are rampant.
It’s got to the point where they are giving away Bovaer
products for FREE in supermarkets & people are still not taking them!
The idea that we can stop bad weather by drugging cows with
BOVAER to reduce their farts is generating lots a scepticism to say the least.
Dr Jennine Morgan, a retired GP says, “It is clear to me
that treating cows with a chemical to remove 23% of the 0.38% of total methane
produced in UK is a complete nonsense & will likely harm the cow’s
microbiome & possibly our own.”
@farmingUK had a positive piece on Bovaer as a chemical
used to reduce methane emissions in cows. Dr. Jennine Morgan replied, “The
chemical was found in 4/5 samples of milk tested. It was also found in liver,
adrenals, muscle & brain. Ovary size was reduced. Rats treated with it
failed to get pregnant. Do you deny it says this in the study documents?
Moreover, what effects does it have on soils, small mammals, insects, birds,
worms etc? Where are the studies? What effect does it have on the microbiome of
cows?” Farming UK deleted their
post.
Meanwhile it is becoming a political issue in Australia
with Craig Kelly (an Australian conservative politician) recently stating that
, “If I’m successful winning the Libertarian Party’s nomination for the Senate, and I’m elected –
I will do everything in my power as a Senator to ensure that Bovaer is never
mandated directly or indirectly – and that any beef or diary sources from
animals drugged with Bovaer must be labelled.”
Cattle do not release more methane than grasses would
without them, they do speed up the process of the cycle, but they are also
essential for the continued survival of the cycle.
By grazing most of the plant leaves and moving on to new pastures, ruminants revitalize grasslands. Without grazing, the land dies.
In a recent piece in NZ Farmer, Paige Wills, a sheep and deer farmer, raised the contradiction in the approach of Silver Fern Farms (SFF). “On the one hand, they tout New Zealand’s clean, green farming image…On the other hand, they seem intent on pushing us toward unproven biotech solutions to satisfy corporate buyers…The two approaches are fundamentally incompatible.”
Paige notes that at a SFF roadshow the disconnect was
exampled with SFF announcing Tesco”s 39% emissions reductions as
their aspiration. She asks, “Why not tell the world that, per kilogram of
meat or litre of milk, New Zealand farmers are unmatched in efficiency and
sustainability?...Instead they are steering us toward biotech tools…unnatural,
costly products that disrupt an animals natural process.” (https://www.ruralnewsgroup.co.nz/rural-news/rural-opinion/back-farmers-not-big-corporates)
Although methane is produced by cows, bacteria breakdown
the methane into carbon dioxide and water after about 10 to 12 years. That
means that there is never a cumulative load of new methane in the atmosphere.
Where might all this end up?
Well, the UK recently completed a trial of a carbon credit
system that sets a daily allowance for each person—in effect, a limit on your
ability to purchase food, clothing, goods, and travel as you have always done. The
limit has been set at 20kg of carbon emissions per day, with food restricted to
2600g.
For example, a packet of cheese at 1100g would be almost
half your daily carbon allowance!
Now, put that in the context of the Government’s rushed
Gene Technology Bill deregulating biotechnology. The bill does away with the
labelling of gene altered foods, hands decisions to a government appointed
regulator, ignores the precautionary principle which maintains products need to
be proved safe before release, removes any liability for mistakes, exposes our
farming sector to corporate control by patent holders, and ignores the risks to
our economy.
Watch the Video “The Gene Technology Bill-What Kiwis Need To Know” on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5b2skQADT4
