By George Moffatt • gmoffattgt@aol.com
The headline was a showstopper: “Inflation Reduction Act Will Tax Cow Farts.” This sounded silly, but even if true, who’d want the job of counting them?
The inflation control bill contained funding for controlling methane emissions from concentrated animal feeding and breeding operations (CAFOs)—much-criticized “factory farms” that raise dairy and meat cows, pigs, sheep, turkeys, chickens, and egg-laying hens.
These often windowless, tightly confined, and high-intensity breeding facilities—where animals may rarely see the light of day—typically have many thousands of animals, while the biggest cattle “factories” can hold up to 150,000 cattle. These are considered ideal conditions for productivity by the CAFO corporations, though the inhumanity and environmental problems caused by these operations are staggering.
But why this interest in bovines? Surprisingly, cows and other livestock animals produce about 36% of Earth’s methane emissions by both burping and breaking wind, with 90% to 95% of their methane (CH4) emitted by the burps. Since there are over 1.5 billion cows worldwide, about 28.9 million in the United States in 2021 and 29,000 in New Jersey, according to various sources, their burps—about one per cow every 90 seconds—add up.
A cow burps between 250 to 500 liters of methane a day or roughly 137,000 liters a year. Worldwide, cows release about 120 million metric tons of methane per year. Methane can last in the atmosphere for 12 years and is responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperature, according to the International Energy Agency. Despite its short lifetime, methane has 80 times the warming power of CO2.
But burping is just part of the problem. Depending on its size, a cow weighing 1,000 pounds also expels about 60 pounds of manure a day, or about 23,000 pounds a year. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that livestock and poultry operations in this country produce as much as 1.4 billion tons of manure each year! When properly composted, manure is a beneficial fertilizer containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in a 3-2-1 ratio and labeled as (NPK). Manure also contains micro-nutrients, such as boron and sulfur.
CAFO livestock, penned together by the thousands, generate so much waste that it is often stored in vast “lagoons.” The waste is then spread on fields, releasing methane in the process. Due to industry’s shift to even larger dairy and hog operations, methane emissions from manure leapt by 68% between 1990 and 2019. But untreated or improperly composted manure can drain into nearby vegetable fields, underground water tables, and waterways, spreading dangerous pathogens, such as bacteria, protozoa, and viruses.
CAFOs also can create other serious problems besides burping and pooping. The Sentience Institute estimates that CAFOs produce 70.0% of US beef, 99.9% of chicken, 99.8% of turkey, and 98.3% of pork. This means health violations in a CAFO could trigger health and even life-threatening regional—or worse—nationwide problems.
A measure of how big these CAFOs can be is when 18,000 head of dairy cows died April 10 in an explosion and fire at a CAFO south of Amarillo, Texas. The dairy was about 10 times larger than the average Texas dairy herd and was authorized to hold up to 32,000 head. A Castro County sheriff said the fire likely resulted from overheated equipment that ignited a methane buildup.
Although there are only two CAFOs registered in New Jersey, in January, US Sen. Cory Booker reintroduced a bill that includes strengthening the Packers and Stockyards Act. This would crack down on monopolistic practices of multinational meatpackers and corporate integrators and place a moratorium on CAFOs.
Because of the many environmental and health threats CAFOs pose, including the inhumane housing conditions for these animals, many organizations oppose CAFOs, including the Sierra Club. The organization has issued a position paper, a cleverly named “Bullsheet,” and a comprehensive critique calling for CAFOs to be shut down.
Resource:
Sierra Club information on CAFOs: https://bit.ly/40AS76n