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So the clarification is "from their burps". What does it do to the greenhouse gas emissions from their farts?

by hsnewman 8y ago

gameswithgo 8y ago
or getting the seaweed there, or growing enough seaweed
- bhandziuk 8y ago
  plus if they're all eating seaweed then they're probably caged (as opposed to out in pasture) which comes with other issues. Maybe they can be at pasture and eat seaweed from a trough but they're certainly not eating all their food from that trough then.
- SwellJoe 8y ago
  Growing and delivering the seaweed is among the smallest problems to solve. The animal agriculture industry already involves growing and shipping billions of pounds of feed. This is just a different type of feed, and it is seemingly only needed in tiny quantities, so it will be dwarfed by other expenses related to raising cattle for consumption. The only thing missing is a profit motive...without taxes and regulations that internalize those external environmental costs, there's no motivation for cattle producers to add even this small cost.
scythe 8y ago
The majority of methane produced by ruminants exits via the mouth. This is because methane is produced by bacteria -- animal cells cannot perform methanogenesis. The big difference between ruminants and humans digestively is: - in ruminants, bacteria-assisted "fiber digestion" happens before protease-mediated "protein digestion": the rumen precedes the abomasum. (The other two stomachs, the reticulum and omasum, have an unclear function, but appear to essentially be large filters.) - in other mammals, including most herbivores, bacteria-assisted "fiber digestion" occurs after protease-mediated "protein digestion": the stomach precedes the colon. So while a human or other primate -- including leaf-eating monkeys -- expels most fermented gas via the anus, a ruminant will expel most of it from its mouth (eructation): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumen#Stratification_and_mixing_of_digesta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumen#Stratification_and_mixin...

So the clarification is "from their burps". What does it do to the greenhouse gas emissions from their farts?

gameswithgo 8y ago

or getting the seaweed there, or growing enough seaweed

bhandziuk 8y ago
plus if they're all eating seaweed then they're probably caged (as opposed to out in pasture) which comes with other issues. Maybe they can be at pasture and eat seaweed from a trough but they're certainly not eating all their food from that trough then.
SwellJoe 8y ago
Growing and delivering the seaweed is among the smallest problems to solve. The animal agriculture industry already involves growing and shipping billions of pounds of feed. This is just a different type of feed, and it is seemingly only needed in tiny quantities, so it will be dwarfed by other expenses related to raising cattle for consumption. The only thing missing is a profit motive...without taxes and regulations that internalize those external environmental costs, there's no motivation for cattle producers to add even this small cost.

scythe 8y ago

The majority of methane produced by ruminants exits via the mouth. This is because methane is produced by bacteria -- animal cells cannot perform methanogenesis. The big difference between ruminants and humans digestively is: - in ruminants, bacteria-assisted "fiber digestion" happens before protease-mediated "protein digestion": the rumen precedes the abomasum. (The other two stomachs, the reticulum and omasum, have an unclear function, but appear to essentially be large filters.) - in other mammals, including most herbivores, bacteria-assisted "fiber digestion" occurs after protease-mediated "protein digestion": the stomach precedes the colon. So while a human or other primate -- including leaf-eating monkeys -- expels most fermented gas via the anus, a ruminant will expel most of it from its mouth (eructation): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumen#Stratification_and_mixing_of_digesta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumen#Stratification_and_mixin...