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Global warming turns up heat on burping cows
15 Aug 2003
Livestock are responsible for more than half Australia's methane emissions and up to 90 per cent of the methane produced on Victorian farms comes from the burping and breathing of cattle (rather than flatulence).
The Victorian Government has decided to do something about it with a new piece of equipment that will help in understanding the problem. Department of Primary Industry scientists are attaching methane meters, that look like yoke collars, to cattle in paddocks. The "cow calorimeters" measure methane output. The results will complement sealed research rooms for cattle at some of the department's rural centres.
The State Agriculture Minister, Bob Cameron, launched the $1.1 million initiative at Kyneton on August 14. H said that farming produces serious environmental issues: 60 per cent of all methane emissions and 78 per cent of all nitrous oxide emissions, both of which significant greenhouse gases. This is equal to emissions from all transport.
The Age, 15/8/03.
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