| Winds of Change on Farms as Cows help save the Earth |
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From The
Times, UK, Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor
Chopped
straw and hay are the vital ingredients to settle a cow's stomach and reduce
emissions of methane by 20 per cent.
This
material is used as bedding for cattle and cows usually have little appetite
for it. But just as children are coaxed to take their medicine by cloaking it
in a syrup, cattle are being fed a blend of foods that makes it irresistible.
The
secret is to cut straw or hay into strips 6cm-7cm long and to mix them with
silage, wheat, maize, soya or sugar beet. A dairy cow needs only 4.4lb (2kg) a
day, a tiny percentage of the 130lb daily ration of forage it would otherwise
eat.
The dairy
industry is excited by the development and is now hoping that every dairy
farmer in the country will take it up.
Dairy UK,
an organisation that represents the sector, is striving to create a greener
pint of milk as part of the government targets to combat climate change.
Initial
results show that the diet reduced the amount of methane produced per litre of
milk from 30 litres to 24litres in trials on farms attached to First Milk, a
co-operative of 2,600 dairy farmers producing 16 per cent of Britain's milk.
Farmers
involved in the trial reported a 15 per cent higher milk yield. The average
production is 24 litres a day but this increased by three or four litres. David
Beevor, a former professor of animal science who now works for the animal
nutritionist Keenan Rumans, said: “The formula is a bit like giving a person a
daily breakfast of All-Bran type cereal. The chopped straw or coarse hay adds
vital fibre to the diet.
“Cows
then have to chew more on this feed which helps to break it down, increasing
the production of saliva and aiding fermentation in the stomach. This enables
more feed to be converted to milk.” Gerald Watkin, 48, who farms at Borth, near
Aberystwyth, Mid-Wales, has 140 dairy cattle and has been giving his herd the
new feed mix for a year. He has been amazed by the results of a higher milk
yield and helping to reduce greenhouse gases.
He said:
“If I put out yellow straw for them the cows would not touch it. They might
play with it like a child who won't eat his greens.
“But with
this feed mix they can't pick out the straw. The cattle also seem more
contented and are chewing the cud longer because they have more fibre. Their
health has also improved and lameness is less of a problem and milk yield is
up.”
Jim Begg,
director of Dairy UK, said: “Everyone knows that cows produce methane and the
presumption is that nature must take its course.
“But this
terrific initiative shows how we can make the dairy sector even greener, and
give consumers the low-carbon products they want.”
Worldwide
there are 1.5 billion cattle and their collective belching is thought to
account for 5 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. |