Now if they could only provide a solution for Mannian emissions, they’d really have something. It does seem better though than the Bovine Fish Oil Methane Cure and certainly less ridiculous than Climate idiocy at the Monterey Bay Aquarium – cow with a gas mask.
From Penn State press: Unusual feed supplement could ease greenhouse gassy cows
University Park, Pa. — Cow belches, a major source of greenhouse gases, could be decreased by an unusual feed supplement developed by a Penn State dairy scientist.
In a series of laboratory experiments and a live animal test, an oregano-based supplement not only decreased methane emissions in dairy cows by 40 percent, but also improved milk production, according to Alexander Hristov, an associate professor of dairy nutrition.
The natural methane-reduction supplement could lead to a cleaner environment and more productive dairy operations.
“Cattle are actually a major producer of methane gas and methane is a significant greenhouse gas,” Hristov said. “In fact, worldwide, livestock emits 37 percent of anthropogenic methane.”
Anthropegenic methane is methane produced by human activities, such as agriculture.
Compared to carbon dioxide, methane has 23 times the potential to create global warming, Hristov said. The Environmental Protection Agency bases the global warming potential of methane on the gas’s absorption of infrared radiation, the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths and the length of time methane remains in the atmosphere.
Methane production is a natural part of the digestive process of cows and other ruminants, such as bison, sheep and goats. When the cow digests food, bacteria in the rumen, the largest of the four-chambered stomach, break the material down intro nutrients in a fermentation process. Two of the byproducts of this fermentation are carbon dioxide and methane.
“Any cut in the methane emissions would be beneficial,” Hristov said.
Experiments revealed another benefit of the gas-reducing supplement. It increased daily milk production by nearly three pounds of milk for each cow during the trials. The researcher anticipated the higher milk productivity from the herd.
“Since methane production is an energy loss for the animal, this isn’t really a surprise,” Hristov said. “If you decrease energy loss, the cows can use that energy for other processes, such as making milk.”
Hristov said that finding a natural solution for methane reduction in cattle has taken him approximately six years. Natural methane reduction measures are preferable to current treatments, such as feed antibiotics.
Hristov first screened hundreds of essential oils, plants and various compounds in the laboratory before arriving at oregano as a possible solution. During the experiments, oregano consistently reduced methane without demonstrating any negative effects.
Following the laboratory experiments, Hristov conducted an experiment to study the effects of oregano on lactating cows at Penn State’s dairy barns. He is currently conducting follow-up animal trials to verify the early findings and to further isolate specific compounds involved in the suppression of methane.
Hristov said that some compounds that are found in oregano, including carvacrol, geraniol and thymol, seem to play a more significant role in methane suppression. Identifying the active compounds is important because pure compounds are easier to produce commercially and more economical for farmers to use.
“If the follow-up trials are successful, we will keep trying to identify the active compounds in oregano to produce purer products,” said Hristov.
Hristov has filed a provisional patent for this work.
Anthony, this post is a hoot, as are many of the comments. Family medical needs or not (and I hope all is going well), you seem to continue to have a jolly good time with your blog. I noticed that Yuba Yollabolly (6:59 pm) — there is a new one born every second — had to go letter-of-the-law and assume that the land used by cattle today only belonged to bison in the past. (In psychoanalysis we call this concrete thinking.) How about all the herds of elk, deer, and other farting ruminants? I think the new saying should be “back to nature” with these, uh, er, are they mutants? Have they lost their human DNA? Have they lost all DNA? Are they alien invaders? Penn State, you say. Is there something strange eminating from those intellectually dark corridors?
To celebrate and embrace this new technology tonight I prepared my farm fresh lamb chops in a swaddle of oregano. Tomorrow night I shall again bring out the oregano, this time to season my broiled narwal ribs – the other white meat.
Stanwilli says:
September 7, 2010 at 7:22 pm
“Where do they come up with this stuff? It would be sad if they were serious. That’s IT! We’re all being pranked by acedemia.”
Sadly Stan, we’re not being punked. Most really do take it seriously. At work we joked about applying for a huge grant to locate the bovine flatus gene, and then realized it might actually get funded.
It is unfortunate that a sensible bit of research into feed supplements that improve the biologic productivity of cattle has been tarred by the AGW silliness.
The idea that some inexpensive additive could yield significant food conversion efficiency gains is well worth pursuing. A 40% methane reduction does suggest a material shift in the digestion process. As cows are spectacularly effective bio-processors, able to make meat and milk even on a diet of newsprint flavored with urea, there is probably a considerable amount of additional improvement that could be achieved once we understand the process better. This research is a small step in that direction and should be praised, rather than ridiculed.
The brickbats should be directed at the Penn State press department, which focused on the AGW angle from the methane reduction rather than on the productivity increase.
God knows what other crap is in this “oregano-based supplement “.
If memory serves it is termites mounds that are the methane problem so maybe this will work for that two. Anyone want to join my in seeking a grant to study this. Side benefit termite mounds tend to occur in warm places and I think this will be one cold winter here in Alberta.
“It increased daily milk production by nearly three pounds of milk for each cow during the trials.”
Is this more milk, or just a greater density of fat products within the milk?
DesertYote
Since I am from Hawaii, and we buy a great deal of that rice, indeed the Calrose seed is raised here, I am extremely grateful for the California rice crop. We do not eat much long grain here. So we love the Calrose medium.
Unfortunately, between nutty politicians and judges, it is likely California will abandon agriculture in the foreseeable , if not near future. As you are shedding industry. Apparently you all believe that you can live on cow farts from adjoining States and leftist blather.
Or they could just make the cow-pats explode in sunlight;
Australian scientists have developed a way to better distribute cattle dung over pasture land. According to a trade journal there, “A slow release pellet of photo reactive gallium-arsenide-3” is fed to the cow and finds
its way through the digestive tract and into the animal’s dung. Then, when an offending cow plop is exposed to the ultraviolet rays of sunlight, it explodes.
“An initial increase in dung production is noted,” the journal reports, “but the animals are soon conditioned to the noise of exploding pads”
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/k2/stn/archives/archive56/newposts/585/topic585050.shtm
Gallium arsenide? So let us mix one of the most costly metals on earth with a common deadly metal and feed animals with it. Oh. And a bonus. Together they are a dangerous chemical that makes our usual liberal screaming-in-fear (Alar, DDT, etc.) compounds seem like chocolate candy. You like cancer? check. lung disease? check. How about sterility and birth defects? check. Kill termites and roaches? check. Hmmm. Let us try a taste test with that with the pea-brained Warmists who came up with idea.
It’s entertaining reading the many humourous comments. On a serious note, bovine don’t produce methane out of thin air (no pun). They eat the carbon sequestered in the grass, then belch and fart some of it out as methane and the cycle keeps going.
I’d like to know if there are any studies out there which quantify the net balance of consumption and emission.
Back to the lighter note, I wouldn’t upset these bovines, they may take up arms as in this little gem.
No, no no, no, no. The photo is wrongly attributed as it should have come from this other study:
Curry spices for cows and sheep could cut methane emissions
Clearly the photo was taken during their experimental program.
This research has important implications for controlling the spread of Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE). It is a real pity when research is viewed solely in terms of how it can be used to mitigate AGW and thus turned into a joke.
Increased milk and meat yields? Definetly worth more study to rule it in or rule it out.
In addition to it being a shame to see a potentially interesting agra story needing to resort to AGW barking, which doesn’t help first impressions, this would potentially by a relevant health story. Would this result in a significant reduction in feed antibiotic use if it proved to be an option? Are these the types of antibiotics uses in the industry that we hear about that foster antibiotic resisant bacteria? For all I know those questions could have no bearing on the story, but who knows after you have to shovel through so much climate change.
Potentially a great science story shaping up but definetly a poor AGW story.
Increased yields will sell this product if it’s all it claims to be (I have my doubts), not greenhouse gas considerations. In the meantime, who knows how the high priests of AGW will react to this, they seem to have a real aversion to unscripted solutions. I’m guessing they won’t embrace the idea that we can feed that many more people beef or appreciate how such a discovery could raise the potential output of food to sustain a larger population. It’s discoveries like this is, or pretends to be, that make myth of the estimates of population overload. Or maybe they’ll be divided and turn on each other and draw ever more public attention to how they behave. Can always hope.
Afterall, look how upset they are that nature evolved/evolves us and we served as a method for the planet to replace into the atmosphere the CO2 that was slipping into the planet’s surfaces. We’ve probably extended the amount of time plant life (and the oxygen it supplies) can possibly exist on our planet by millions of years. We should be proud.
If only we could believe their claims that doing so ended the ice age we’ve been in the last however many million years.
“Enneagram says:
September 7, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Hmmm..instead of methane cows will “exhale” back CO (carbon monoxide)
2CH4+ 3O2= 2CO+ 4H2O…”
And the CO oxidises to CO2 anyway. Has anyone done the comparison of greenhouse effect between 2 CH4 and 2 CO2 with 4 H2O? Is methane really 20 times greater?
cheers david
I seem to recall Yoko Ono making a pronouncement about cow farts several decades ago. I recall thinking she was a mad cow, long before BSE was a three letter acronym.
Attempting to give an AGW spin to this story about sensible and possibly valuable research into increasing milk and meat yeilds from dairy cows has made it a laughing-stock. The university PR officer attempting to stay on-message with AGW is the problem, not the research or the researchers.
I don’t wish to be a party pooper but by far the most methane is emitted by cows through their MOUTH. They belch a lot and in fact if prevented from belching as when suffering from frothy bloat they will blow up and die. The expanding stomach sqeezes the heart and also prevents the lungs inhaling. The animal suffocates.
Of more interset is the fact that in Australia at least, most of our cattle are fattened on grass, that is free range. Some places run a cow per hundred acres so catching them to give them their daily dose of oregamo is a mite difficult.
I also note that methane levels are not rising at the same rate as CO2 and have effectively plateaued. Since methane is so much more “dangerous” than that pollutant “CO2” and since between them, and with help from many natural forces, world temps have increased a half degree in 100 years is it realistic to worry at all. The researcher has just wasted 6 years and lots of taxpayers money.
I do like the “Patent applied for” comment. Who would have thought that it was possible to patent feeding herbs to herbivores?
I’m afraid that patents systems really are fubar if this “patent” is accepted.
If I recall correctly (working from memory here), if you feed cows grass, rather than grains such as corn, their “emissions” are sharply reduced.
Agreed. In addition, if this finding gives warmists “an outlet” to expend their pent-up energies on implementing, it’s all to the good. It should be part of a “no-regrets” suite of mitigation measures.
Interesting. The giant food producers (Cargill, Tyson, Jenny-O, etc) have been using herbal supplements for years to increase the shelf-life of processed products (ground meat, sausage, etc). Natural alternatives to BHA and BHT. Therefore the ingredient label only has to say “spices and other natural ingredients”. My wife is a Senior product developer for one. The active ingredients in both oregano and rosemary work as antioxidants.They are looking at the wrong molecules. Apply for molecular patents all they want, the science is well known. I need to read the original paper to determine what other foodstuffs were in the feed. Alfalfa has many of the same materials, and if not in the feed, may negate the benefits. They may be able to apply for specific use patents. The molecules are in the flavone pathway. Some of the few known molecules that are both zwitterionic and emulsifiers. They also are genetic inducers of specific bacterial enzymes. I worked with flavonoids while on my master’s.
Pamela Gray says: September 7, 2010 at 6:16 pm
If they add red wine to that oregano supplement, I just might be convinced to stop whining about warmers. The meat will already be marinated and the wine supplement will cause the milk volume to double (it did me when I was nursing).
Other than TMI, you are correct. In terms of naturally occurring flavonoids in modern food products (that are palatable), red wine has the highest percentage (blackberry wine actually, ugh) followed by brassicas. specie.
“That’s more than twice as many cows (now) than there ever were bison in their home range of Cannada and the US.”
Yes, but how many millions of deer, pronghorns, bighorn sheep etc were there?
“Here are three counties that never had bison or buffalo, but they now have this many cows:
Brazil: 187,087,000
Argentina: 51,062,000
Australia: 29,202,000”
No, but before the indians/aborigines arrived there were countless millions of elephants, camelids, horses, giant sloths, giant kangaroos, giant vombats etc etc.
By the way, love the picture. Oil rig explosions have nothing on cows.