What smell comes to mind when you read the phrase “fresh country air”? Is it clean and refreshing oxygen? Is it the smell of warm plants happily converting sunlight to sugar? Is it something far less pleasant?
What if you could do something about those less pleasant smells, and say that you’re doing a favor for the environment at the same time? Well, if you’re in Japan, that’s front page news!
Yesterday I was a little surprised to see a picture of a belching cow on the front page of the Daily Yomiuri English newspaper at work. Apparently, scientists have found a way to stop cows from methane when they release gas from their mouth. This is quite interesting, considering there is probably less than 500 cows in the entire country.
It’s long been known that cows generate methane whenever they release gas, regardless of where that gas comes out from. It’s generated in the stomach of several grass-eating animals (ruminants, if I remember correctly) as they break down the plant fibers into usable energy. The methane is then released into the atmosphere as the animals belch while chewing their cud.
Yummy.
Since methane is considered one of those “bad greenhouse gasses”, scientists have been busy at work determining how we can reduce the amount of the gas released. It’s said that the Earth’s livestock accounts for 5% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
I wonder how much of a problem we had with greenhouse gasses 4000 years ago. Luckily, we’ve driven most of the larger ruminants right into extinction. Sorry, buffalo.
Back on topic, though, researchers at the Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in Hokkaido initially noticed that dairy cattle consume quite a bit of nitrate. This nitrate comes from grass growing in fields with high levels of chemical fertilizer use. Cattle that eat this heavily fertilized grass tend to have only trace amounts of greenhouse emissions in their belches. Oddly enough, this was accidentally discovered while the same scientists were studying a mass poisoning outbreak among the cows.
Continuing with their appreciation for highly fertilized grass, the final report said that the cows that ate this type of grass were better suited to stave off disease and poisoning, and the excess nitrate did not affect the quality of the milk in any way. Considering how the milk in this country leaves much to be desired, I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
Either way, this could potentially help developing nations with large herds of cattle reduce their greenhouse emissions, which will give them a one-up on other countries such as Canada and China.
What does this mean for that “fresh country air”? Well … since methane is odourless, I don’t think we’ll notice any change the next time we drive through the farmland 
I wonder if scientists can fix the stuff that comes out of the other end of the cow. It may not cause global warming, but here in Iowa, it definately makes hot summmer days suck!