Enviros Turn to Cattle Grazing to Curb Global Warming

[dannno]

The Amazing Ability of Pasture Grass to Sequester Carbon
Century-Old Chamberlin Ranch Turns to New Techniques That Improve Rangeland and So Much More


Thursday, April 19, 2018
by JEAN YAMAMURA


A buzz has been generating in California agriculture circles over the possibilities of carbon ranching. It’s not about producing carbon, as it might sound, but about putting more carbon back into the ground, naturally, through grasses. The theory goes like this: Native grasses send roots as deep as six feet underground, breathing in carbon dioxide as they breathe out oxygen. At a number of test acres across California, including at the Ted Chamberlin Ranch near Los Olivos, adding a thin layer of compost has created more topsoil, which feeds the microbes below ground, which enrich the grasses, which draw more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and hold it in their roots deep in the soil. Add cattle to the mix, and voilà! Carbon ranching.

https://www.independent.com/news/201...uester-carbon/

[dannno]

I think I may become an environmentalist again.

[shakey1]

a good strong argument in favor of grass fed beef... environmentally sound... & delicious.

[Zippyjuan]

What about the cow's methane?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

What about the cow's methane?

What about it? Cows fart more when they're grain fed. My next-door-neighbor's cows eat grass most of the year. Very little to no problems with gas. We fed our dogs 3 parts raw meat to one part greens. Never a problem with gas unless they ate some garbage food. I eat all raw, which is based on dark, leafy greens. No problems unless I eat too much raw cheese, raw fish, nuts, etc.

By the way, we've bought a few of my neighbors cows. Gave it to our dogs raw. I only eat raw, so ate some of it raw. Just a small cube or two at a time, and it was outstanding.

[dannno]

What about the cow's methane?

Ye who smelt it dealt it.

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.opb.org/news/blog/ecotro...rain-fed-beef/

Grass-fed cattle produce do more methane because it’s harder to digest grass than grain. However, some argue grass that is continually grazed by grass-fed cattle sequesters enough carbon to make up the difference in methane.

This Washington Post blogger reviewed several studies and decided it’s hard to say whether grass-fed or grain-fed beef is better for the Earth – in part because they’re both pretty bad.

“No matter how you slice it,” he wrote, “eating beef will never be the greenest thing you do in a day.”

He cites an estimate by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan that producing 2.2 pounds of beef emits more greenhouse gases than driving 155 miles.

Hamerschlag said Capper doesn’t properly account for the water use in grass-fed systems, doesn’t give enough credit to the carbon sequestration benefits of raising cattle entirely on grass, and

For a firsthand perspective, I called Joe Pestana, who raises about 100 head of grass-fed cattle in Langlois.

It usually takes him a little more than two years to raise the calves to market weight. Then, he drives the cattle to the slaughterhouse and delivers the meat directly to his customers.

“It is more expensive to produce,” he said. “It takes a lot of land – good land. It takes irrigation rights. It takes a lot of grass. If you really wanted to feed the whole country a good protein source, I don’t know if we have the pasture and irrigation to make that much.”

If one is concerned about the carbon footprint of their protein sources:



https://sustainability.stackexchange...rbon-footprint

[Swordsmyth]

https://www.opb.org/news/blog/ecotro...rain-fed-beef/








If one is concerned about the carbon footprint of their protein sources:



https://sustainability.stackexchange...rbon-footprint

I need to eat more lamb.