A friend sent me an article Dr. Jones recently wrote. It was very timely because I have been thinking about the methane production of cows. Now why would I be thinking about that? Because SOMEONE said that grass finished beef produces more methane than grain finished beef.
Hmmmm. Really? What kind of animals, feed-stuffs and grazing practices did they use to come up with this AND who paid for the studies???
Methane is produced in the ruminant when they have inefficient digestion. Some humans have the same problem, but we won’t go there is this rant.
How could we make the digestion more efficient (and produce better beef as a result)?
Well, Highly mineralized grass and hay are naturally more digestible and fatten the animals faster. Fewer bites and more digestible…Check, check!
Cattle that are deep in the chest (and more suited to grass) eat less grass and finish faster. Check, check!
Animals who have had their rumens properly developed get more nutrition out of every bite and need to take fewer bites each day (producing less methane) Check, check!
Mamma cows with lots of butterfat and good glandular function produce calves who are naturally more efficient digesters (emitting less methane along the way). Check, check!
And I thought the bigger issue was the “carbon-in-the-atmosphere” problem. I watched this video the first time and wondered, "Did everyone drive their cars 24 hours a day for the month of April and the first half of May?" I do believe you will connect the dots with CO2 in the atmosphere and what happens with the farm ground at that time of year.
Did SOMEONE start talking about methane to distract us from the problem they are creating for the rest of us?
You can find that article here