Livestock Farming; Go Vegan, or Drink More Milk?

Written in Dec. 2018

Long and laborious days are not the only challenge that agriculturists, particularly those who work with cattle, are confronting in the farming world. The increasingly intense debate on the negative effects of methane gas produced by cows on a changing climate have led to trends of activism against dairy farming, but, as indicated by University of New Hampshire Dairy Club president Jessica Sexton, this countermovement may be based on misinformation.

 

According to Sexton, many people’s thoughts about methane gas production by cattle are misconceptions. She said that a lot of movies use ancient statistics from before people knew what they were doing and knew how to farm in the most efficient way possible.

 

“Now animal agriculture in the United States only contributes to [a low percentage] of greenhouse gases, so when people are trying to blame agriculture, it’s just not what’s causing a lot of these issues.”

 

Peter Erickson, professor of dairy management and extension dairy specialist at UNH, agrees with Sexton in the sense that he believes that cattle are getting a bad rap for their production of methane gas.

 

“The contribution of livestock to methane in the US, the correct number, is about 4.2%, not 14%,” Erickson said. “The [Food and Agriculture Organization] went back and changed it because they had been proven wrong, a majority of greenhouse gases come from transportation, vehicles, not livestock. But it’s an easy thing to pick on.”

 

Cows are a ruminant, according to Dr. Anita Klein, demi-administrator of UNH’s Organic Dairy Research Farm located in Lee, New Hampshire. This means that they have an extra stomach that is full of microbes and can eat food that has a very high fiber content. The microbes in their extra stomach break down that fiber into sugars that the cow can use to make energy and protein.

 

Tess Stahl, a second-year master’s student studying agricultural science, said that in cows’ rumen, (or second stomach), there are methanogens which are the bacteria that digest and produce methane. According to Stahl, cows will always have to produce methane because it is a byproduct of how they digest feed. However, she thinks that if more efficient means of nutrition were implemented so that cows did not have to produce as much methane without killing the methanogens in their rumen, it would be a good thing.

 

At UNH’s Organic Dairy Research Farm, Ryan Courtright, the farm manager, said that one year of a two-year study has recently been completed in looking at canola and how it affects methane gas production in cows. He said that it is believed that methane production in cows decreases their efficiency of milk production.

 

“It is believed that canola has some benefits to reducing methane in the rumen,” Courtright said. “Canola prefers to be grown in cooler temperatures, so we planted canola on the farm in the early part of August and sixty days later we were able to pasture it. One of the great benefits of planting canola is that it extends the grazing season for the organic industry, so we had our cows out for a total of 160 days this year, the organic requirement is 120.”

 

Researchers are able to see the effects of certain alterations in the diets of the cows at the research farm by utilizing a device called a “green feed machine,” according to Courtright. The machine lures the cows in upwards to five times a day and dispenses a small amount of grain. When the cow goes to eat the grain, the machine measures the amount of methane on the cow’s breath.

 

“We are an important role model for the farmers of New England,” Courtright said about the farm and sustainability. “Being that we are a research farm, we can take the risk on new things that may or may not work. Other farmers that are private can’t take the risks that we are able to. We are kind of like guinea pigs for the farmers of New England and for the United States.”

 

Klein says that improving efficiencies in diet and reducing methane production is one big area of the research farm amongst other things that improve sustainability like finding different ways to improve forages that the cows are eating. She says that the farm is also finding ways to turn cow manure and the bedding that the cows are on, which contains urine and manure, into compost through aerobic composting. This type of composting, by using oxygen, produces less methane, a greenhouse gas, than anaerobic composting which does not use oxygen.

 

According to Klein, this type of composting is implemented to try to make the organic dairy production more of a “closed circle,” so that by composting the material aerobically, they can capture the heat produced from it which is used to preheat the water that is used to clean the cows before they are milked.

 

Ben Patterson, a senior sustainable agriculture and food systems major at UNH was raised on and is now financially responsible for his family’s farm that raises cows for beef. Patterson says that an important part of raising cows for meat is that it utilizes land that would be otherwise unusable to grow food for humans. It also avoids certain environmental problems that stem from tilled land.

 

“An important part of cows is their ability to eat grass and turn it into food for us, because we can’t eat grass,” Patterson said. “On my family’s farm, 90 percent of the land is not arable land, it’s clay, hilly, there’s no way you could ever plow it and plant vegetables, so the only thing you could ever do is have something that eats grass to be able to produce food off of it. On top of that, grasslands are the greatest sink for carbon than any type of land, as opposed to forestry or tilled land because tilled land actually releases a lot of carbon in the atmosphere.”

 

Because the cows in the Organic Dairy Farm herd forage on the farm, Courtright said that the farm is working on new strategies that will benefit and aid in the sustainability of the farm for both “today and tomorrow.”

 

“We are able to implement new technologies on the cow side as well as on a forage production side including different tillage practices that we try to implement so we prevent erosion and things like that,” he said. “I just believe in taking care of the soil and providing for future generations but also improving the soil for today.”

 

Unlike the Organic Dairy Research Farm, Fairchild Dairy, located at UNH in Durham, has a conventional herd, meaning it is not organic. According to Erickson, who helps out with the Cooperative Real Education in Agricultural Management (CREAM) program for students at the farm, Fairchild Dairy is also a very sustainable facility.

 

“We are more environmentally friendly than a lot of other farms because what causes methane to be produced in the rumen of an animal is high fiber diets, a lot of forage,” Erickson said about the sustainability of conventional farms like Fairchild versus organic farms. “If I reduce the amount of forage and increase the amount of grain, methane drops, that’s been proven for years…. The argument will be that we are bringing in feed with trucks, which is a valid argument, so that’s where the discrepancy can arrive, but if you do your nutrition right, and I am a nutritionist, you can optimize production and simultaneously reduce the effect of methane.”

 

Erickson said that the average dairy farm in New Hampshire has a herd of about 150 cows. This is environmentally friendly according to Erickson because there are regulations to control effluent manure and nutrients on those operations. He said that there are federal laws put into place to protect water and the environment from contamination.

 

Other efforts of sustainability done by Fairchild Dairy according to Erickson include utilizing a manure spreader that handles liquid manure. The spreader injects the nutrients into the ground and therefore decreases volatilization or air pollution into the atmosphere, puts nutrients at the roots where the plants need it, and decrease the odor of the manure. In this kind of system, Erickson said that “the manure is now benefitting farmers more than if it was spread on the land.”

 

Erickson said that although sustainable strides are being made and methane emissions are not as high as many may believe, there is still more progress to be made. Stahl agrees with Erickson in the sense that she believes that farming is always improving and practices get better, more efficient, and more sustainable every day.

 

“Just because it’s low doesn’t mean that we aren’t addressing it,” Erickson said about methane emissions made by cows. “They get a bad rap but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement.”

 

Klein also made the point that agricultural practices are not yet perfect.

 

“All agriculture disrupts ecosystems,” she said. “It’s [about] trying to find the best balance that you can, and there is plenty of room for optimizing.”

 

Certain things that are being worked on at Fairchild Dairy include methods of feeding to better provide for the animals’ needs, Erickson, who is also a nutritionist, said.

 

“We don’t just throw them hay, there are prescribed diets based on their nutrient requirements that people like me study,” he said. “If we feed them the best way we can, [methane] is going to be reduced every time. It’s not like we are throwing up our hands, we are studying that.”

 

A lot of misunderstandings about livestock farming and its production of methane gas are causing people to consume less dairy products like milk and cheese, Sexton says, and a lot of farmers are struggling because they are paid so poorly for the milk that they are producing that they can barely afford to stay afloat and feed their families.

 

The goal of UNH’s Dairy Club according to Sexton is for club members to hold events and try to educate the community about dairy farming and other forms of agriculture so that people may better understand farming practices. She hopes that this may help people make informed decisions about food choices that may potentially help dairy farmers.

 

“Whatever we can do to help them,” she said.

 

Farmers are “hurting” because of such ow milk prices, according to Erickson.

 

“Drink more milk,” he advised to those who need encouragement.