In the April 2010 issue of Veterinary Practice, Andrew Knight argues that “reducing the production of meat could help solve one of the world’s major problems.” Read more … (Veterinary Practice) Continue reading
Category Archives: Livestock
Asia / China / Climate Change / Livestock
Cows absolved of causing global warming with nitrous oxide
Livestock could actually be good for the environment according to a new study that found grazing cows or sheep can cut emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas. Dr Butterbach-Bahl said the study overturned assumptions about grazing goats and cattle. “It’s been generally assumed that if you increase livestock numbers you get a rise in emissions … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Health / Disease Control / East Africa / Livestock / Uganda / Vaccines
Makerere to produce vaccines and drugs for livestock
Makerere University is to start an animal institute which will produce vaccines and drugs for livestock and wild animals. The Africa Institute for Strategic Animal Resource Services will also train youth in livestock management. It will promote value addition and develop high market value products from cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and rabbits. to support the … Continue reading
New Zealand optimistic after agricultural greenhouse gases meeting
The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases’ inaugural meeting went well, the Government says. The meeting of senior officials and scientists from the alliance’s 29 member countries, with China, Brazil and Korea attending as observers, was largely about giving organisational form to the political decision in Copenhagen last December to launch a collaborative effort … Continue reading
Grazing cattle reduce some greenhouse gases
A new report published in Nature addresses the impact of nitrous oxide, or N2O, which is about 300 times as powerful as CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. But the Nature study throws an unexpected twist into the N2O story. Biologists had long assumed that the farming of cattle and other livestock was part … Continue reading
Where’s the beef? Scientist takes a second look at UN numbers that have led many environmentalists to forego meat
For those advocating for urgent action on the climate change file, it’s been a rough few months. From the “Climategate” email scandal at the University of East Anglia to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s now-debunked claim that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035, advocates have been hit by a series of damaging credibility … Continue reading
New Zealand talks on farm emissions start
New Zealand will support developing countries getting benefits from its Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases for free, Prime Minister John Key says. The government launched the alliance last year and the first meeting of member countries began in Wellington on Wednesday. The alliance was expected initially to divide its work into four sectors: … Continue reading
Meat vs. mile: Coverage of livestock, transportation emissions hypes controversy
For the last four years, media outlets such as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Fox News have repeatedly cited a United Nations study which found that livestock production is responsible for about 18 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions—a larger share than comes from all planes, trains, and automobiles combined. Last week, … Continue reading
AU-IBAR launches new strategic plan
The African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) recently released a new strategic plan covering 2010-2014. According to the AU-IBAR Director: “The challenges and the changing global environment in which we operate demand new ways of management, organisation and stronger partnerships. This Strategic Plan marks a paradigm shift and a commitment that an energetic, … Continue reading
Australia ‘reef and beef’ project launched
An Australian scientist Friday launched what he called a “reef and beef” study into whether feeding cows seaweed would reduce their flatulent carbon emissions, in a move that could help save the Great Barrier Reef. Tony Parker, from James Cook University, said cattle produced up to 20 per cent of global man-made methane emissions, and … Continue reading
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