The Farting Cow

I stumbled on a wacky fact this morning ... the belching and farting from dairy cows produce some 19.3 pounds of gases each year. A somewhat random and humors fact at first glance.

Then I learned cow gas works like auto emission, reacting with other pollutants to form ground-level ozone or smog. So much ozone and smog, in fact, some experts in the California San Joaquin Valley say cow emissions surpass car emission as the biggest producer of smog-forming gases.

I find it fascinating and disturbing, an animal that provides us with milk, the ingredient for so many life sustaining foods, pollutes with such a vengeance. So many questions come to mind as I digest this.

• Are the cows farting and belching more than before?
• If they are, are modern farming practices the cause (changes in feed to improve milk production)?
• Can we figure out a way to harness the gas as an alternative energy source (a bit crazy, but gas prices are out of control)?
• Would Beano help?
• What happens to all the cow poop (scooping the kitty litter box is far from my favorite thing ... I don't even wan't to imagine the amount of scooping required for several hundred cows ... and the size of the poop ... yikes!)?
• How much polution do I produce when I fart and belch (with that question some may question if I was raised by a pack of wolves)?

Who would have thought farting and belching cows would provoke so much thought on a Saturday morning. It's so wacky, I'll be chewing on it for a bit.