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The cow's amazing ability to sustain itself by eating nothing but grass is one of the marvels of nature, but it comes at a cost.
As grass ferments in the rumen — one of four compartments in the animal's stomach — it naturally produces methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO2, although shorter lived in the atmosphere. That methane is released through belching and farting, and on average, a single cow can produce about 200 pounds of it per year. The gas is also released by manure, and livestock accounts for about a third of human-related methane emissions, which are collectively responsible for about 30% of global warming.
A vaccine could be an alternative, and the Pirbright Institute in the UK, a virology lab focusing on livestock, is leading a three-year study to develop one. "The appeal of a vaccine as part of the solution is that it's a very well adopted, common practice, with infrastructure able to do this already, and people know about the benefits of vaccination for animal health generally," says John Hammond, director of research at The Pirbright Institute.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📷: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/File
