Methane Myths
Is everything you hear about methane production true? I'm Jeff Keane; I will be back after this break with some facts and fibs.I was checking for some information on the internet and found some nifty methane production comments by Kansas veterinarian Dave Sjeklocha. Actually, some of the remarks were not quite so truthful facts from animal rights and environmental groups' press releases. Here's a good one - a cow will eat 150 pounds of feed per day, plus 20 pounds of concentrates. That would be a 170 pounds of total feed - we're talking small elephants not cows. Cattle are blamed for 37 per cent of global methane emissions. You can take your pick from ranges of six percent up to the 37 percent animal agriculture haters use. Radical groups say methane concentrations have increased 100 percent since 1900, and a cow will produce 300 to 500 liters of that awful gas per day. Well, in 1970 the beef cattle population was 130 million head. In 1980 there were 111 million head and in 2007 beef cattle numbered only 97 million. That's 33 million head less cattle producing methane. Forage fed to cattle is blamed for methane production. The fact is we feed less forage than we did 20 years ago. So we have 33 million less methane producers being fed less methane-producing forage. Maybe cattle shouldn't get blamed for as much methane production as animal right groups and radical environmentalists would like you to believe. I'm Jeff Keane.
