Greening the Herds: A New Diet to Cap Gas

A NEW diet???   Cows have been eating grass for a long time!!! Duh!

From the NYTimes.

HIGHGATE, Vt. — Chewing her cud on a recent sunny morning, Libby, a 1,400-pound Holstein, paused to do her part in the battle against global warming, emitting a fragrant burp.

Libby, age 6, and the 74 other dairy cows on Guy Choiniere’s farm here are at the heart of an experiment to determine whether a change in diet will help them belch less methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that has been linked to climate change.

Since January, cows at 15 farms across Vermont have had their grain feed adjusted to include more plants like alfalfa and flaxseed — substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat.

As of the last reading in mid-May, the methane output of Mr. Choiniere’s herd had dropped 18 percent. Meanwhile, milk production has held its own.

To read the whole article, click here.

Two statements jumped out at me in this article;

“had their grain feed adjusted to include more plants like alfalfa and flaxseed — substances that, unlike corn or soy, mimic the spring grasses that the animals evolved long ago to eat.”

“They are healthier,” he said of his cows. “Their coats are shinier, and the breath is sweet.”

DUH!!!!   Cows, just like humans, digest the food that is their natural diet!  When we eat foods that do not belong in the human body, like grains and dairy, we get gas!   (don’t get me started on the governments experiment to feed chewing gun wrappers to cows to see it affected the “quality” of their meat!)  When cows eat corn, not their natural diet, they produce a LOT of gas. When grazing on grass, they do not produce gas.

Gas is caused by undigested food in the colon. Food is supposed to be completely digested in the stomach, if not it begins to putrefy in the colon, producing gas.

Notice the article says that adding alfalfa and flax seed improved their health and dropped gas emissions 18%. Here’s a novel approach; let them eat grass, stop the soy and corn.  Feeding them soy and corn fattens them up faster.  It is a race to get them to slaughter before their organs begin failing from poor nutrition. The author states that they are “healthier.”  Why can’t they think of getting them HEALTHY, not just healthier.

And in turn, we would be healthy, benefiting greatly from grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef has 10 times the Vitamins A, D and E, better quality fat, both which help us build healthy immune systems, protect us from cancer.  We get the benefit from the cow eating it’s natural diet, all that grass full of chlorophyll from the grass, all that Vitamin A, D and E from the sun.

Corn fed beef is horrible for us, it’s better to follow a vegetarian diet.

BUT, a vegetarian diet is not healthy, grass fed beef is crucial to good health, beef stock is the best source of iron and calcium.  Making and eating stocks is a lost art, one we need to get back to.  My next post will teach you how to make stocks….