FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas. Over a 20-year period, it is 85 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide, it accounted for roughly 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times, and is proliferating faster than ever since record keeping began in the 1980s. 

Livestock methane emissions account for roughly 32 per cent of human-caused methane emissions. Population growth, economic development and urban migration have stimulated unprecedented demand for beef and dairy products, and with the global population approaching 10 billion, this demand is expected to increase by up to 70% by 2050. 

About 95% of the methane is expelled through the mouth and nostrils of cattle, via exhalations and belching. 
Contrary to common belief, only a small percentage of methane is produced in the cows’ large intestine and then expelled. Remember – it’s the burps, not the farts!

No, methane is about 85 times worse. Although carbon dioxide is the most famous greenhouse gas, methane traps a lot more heat in our atmosphere, warming our planet significantly more than carbon dioxide. Also, there is an important timeline consideration: Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. This means that even if emissions were immediately and dramatically reduced today, it would not have an effect on the climate until later in the century. But it takes only about a decade for methane to break down. Reducing methane emissions now would have an impact in the near term and is critical for helping keep the world on a path to 1.5°C.

This is a complex but very relevant question. While some solutions in this field come from feed additives, these supplements chemically inhibit methane production in the stomach of the animal and alter its digestive process. The most popular and commercially available additives have demonstrated 20-50% efficiency in trials, but feeding cattle specific additives is really only practical where it’s least needed: on feedlots. There, feed additives can be churned into the cows’ grain and soy feed. But on feedlots, cattle already belch less methane—only 11% of their lifetime output. That’s because most of their methane comes from their gut microbes breaking down the indigestible grass, leaves, and roughage they eat on the pastures beforehand, and not from feedlot corn and soy. This means that even if diets on feedlots worked perfectly, it wouldn’t help with the 89% of cows’ belches that occur earlier in their lives.

In recent studies, adding seaweed to cattle feed has shown promise in suppressing bovine methane. Some trials have achieved seemingly game-changing 80% reductions. Many of the claims about the technology’s promise are based on small-scale tests—to actually have a meaningful impact, there is still the question about how to feed algae to most of the world’s 1.5 billion cows. Unfortunately, adding the algae to diets on the pasture, where it’s most needed, isn’t a feasible option either. Out on grazing lands, it’s difficult to get cows to eat additives because they don’t like the taste of red algae unless it’s diluted into feed. And even if we did find ways to sneak algae in somehow, there’s a good chance their gut microbes would adapt and adjust, bringing their belches’ methane right back to high levels.

(excerpt from https://www.wired.com/story/carbon-neutral-cows-algae/)