Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by over 80% in beef steers

Re:Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by ov... by eigenket on Monday March 22, 2021 @10:48AM (#26541585)

This point relies on the assumption that the cattle are out eating grass (or other plants) which would naturally be growing and rotting without human intervention.

This is kinda not true. Grazing systems supply about 9 percent of the world's production of beef [1]. 80% of the global soybean crop is used to feed livestock [2]. A lot of these soybeans are grown on land that used to be rainforest.

Your comparison shouldn't be cow vs grassland - it should be rainforest vs (cow + soybean + transport + processing).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_feeding#Types_of_cattle...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean

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Re:Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by ov... by tengbretson on Monday March 22, 2021 @10:55AM (#26541699)

Surely its clear that if the soybeans aren't growing in the field that something else that grows, dies and decomposes would be.

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Re:Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by ov... by eigenket on Monday March 22, 2021 @11:03AM (#26541834)

Yeah, and we even have a word for the "something else" that you're describing - its a rainforest.

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Re:Red seaweed supplementation reduces enteric methane by ov... by mattnewton on Monday March 22, 2021 @01:13PM (#26543641)

Something like a forest with large trees that lock up carbon for many years, and a lack of commercial fertilizer (which uses natural gas).

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