Burping Cows

[shtferbrains]

Canada to offer incentives to cattle farms to reduce methane emissions

Canada on Sunday introduced new economic incentives for beef cattle farms in order to reduce methane emissions from cows, according to a statement from the Canadian government.

The new draft protocol, Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions from Beef Cattle (REME protocol), will incentivize farmers to implement changes that would cut enteric methane emissions from their beef cattle operations with an opportunity to generate offset credits that they can sell.

Methane generated during the digestive process of cows and is released into the air when cows burp, is known as an enteric methane emission.

Each credit represents one tonne of emission reductions and the REME protocol is expected to encourage cattle farms to reduce emissions by improving animal diets, management, and other strategies that support more efficient animal growth.
reuters.com/s

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Meanwhile. A few years ago I had an interesting conversation on this very topic with Chuck's buddy Darrin Qualman.
Where he revealed that the research indicates the best way to lower methane emissions from cattle is with a grain diet. The worst way is with a grass diet.
Whereas, the Earth muffins are pushing something they call sustainable agriculture, a big part of which involves sustainable grass-fed beef, as opposed to intensive high inputs grain fed beef.
How they propose to square that circle is yet to be seen.

[shtferbrains]

Agriculture is number 3 on the list of Methane emmiters and general "pollution " that the liberals feel they have to address in order to be able to show they are tough on meeting their climate goals coming up quickly.
So far virtually nothing has moved the needle since covid shutdowns and using natural gas instead of coal.
We all have to do our part and make sacrifices so our leaders can fly off to climate conferences and virtue signal.

Canada already sinks over a billion tons more carbon than we produce. NASA has real data to prove it.

[Blaithin]

How do they plan on cutting them? Encouraging ionophore use?

As Abby says, grain diets produce less methane than forage diets.

BUT

Healthy pastures have populations of methanotrophs which absorb atmospheric methane and distribute it back into the soil as part of the methane cycle. Which does feed back into what the Earth Muffins are preaching. A sustainable system should more easily be able to balance itself.

Removing something from its natural cycle may reduce immediate production numbers but it rarely achieves an actual reduction goal. That math would be like saying we have low carbon emissions because we don’t burn coal ourselves and takes into no account the coal we supply to other places to use.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

How do they plan on cutting them? Encouraging ionophore use?

As Abby says, grain diets produce less methane than forage diets.

BUT

Healthy pastures have populations of methanotrophs which absorb atmospheric methane and distribute it back into the soil as part of the methane cycle. Which does feed back into what the Earth Muffins are preaching. A sustainable system should more easily be able to balance itself.

Removing something from its natural cycle may reduce immediate production numbers but it rarely achieves an actual reduction goal. That math would be like saying we have low carbon emissions because we don’t burn coal ourselves and takes into no account the coal we supply to other places to use.

The imminently sensible solution which you suggests, sounds suspiciously like performing full life cycle analysis of methane reduction from cattle.
The problem with that solution is that we would then need to apply the same methodology to all of the other supposed climate measures.
And if we performed honest scientifically based full life cycle analysis of electric cars, wind and solar energy, fertilizer reduction, biomass and wood chips into energy, and energy storage, etc, we would have to slaughter a lot of sacred cows. Pun intended.

[Blaithin]

If they did full life cycle analysis then row crops and mono crops are done which would mean they’d have to flop from “eat less meat” to “eat more meat”.

[Blaithin]

So it’s pretty much just defining feedlot protocol.

[url]https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/pricing-pollution-how-it-will-work/output-based-pricing-system/federal-greenhouse-gas-offset-system/protocols/draft-reducing-enteric-methane-emissions-beef-cattle.html[/url]

[shtferbrains]

I suspect this is the carrot.

We haven't seen the stick yet.

Expect a blizzard of forms/paperwork and platoons of inspectors.

[Blaithin]

Yes I didn’t read the link in depth but it sounds like a lot of crappola.

Have to prove a baseline of how much methane you produce, possibly back to 2017, and then if you can do better than that you will be considered offsetting.

Knowing how that works with carbon credits I’m assuming if any feedlot was utilizing those tools prior to 2017 then that’s their baseline so they will get no offset credits for using them now as they really won’t be able to reduce methane by any more. They’re already utilizing all the tools possible.

Which will mean most feedlots won’t be included.

[shtferbrains]

750,000 dairy cows in Ontario and Quebec.

Steers go to local feeders. Cows go to grind.

A large part of the beef supply.

No politician ever upsets Quebec dairy.

[chuckChuck]

Its the oil and gas industry that needs to reduce Canada's methane emissions. All it requires is operators and governments to get the job done but they always have lame excuses. AKA it will lower our profits!

Methane emissions escaping from Alberta underestimated by 50 per cent, study finds

Researchers cast doubt on official numbers, call for better baseline data

Bob Weber ([url]https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/author/bob-weber-1.4294305[/url]) · The Canadian Press · Posted: Nov 20, 2023 10:09 AM CST | Last Updated: November 20

Emissions of a potent greenhouse gas from Alberta's energy industry are underestimated by nearly 50 per cent, according to a new study from one of Canada's premier climate labs.

The study from Carleton University's Energy and Emissions Research Lab also says oil and gas produced in the province emit significantly more methane for the energy produced than jurisdictions such as British Columbia — a measurement that offers a warning to industry, said lead author Matthew Johnson.

"The future is, your ability to sell [gas] into certain markets will be based on methane intensity," he said.

Johnson's lab, which published its latest paper in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment, combined several different measuring methods for methane, a greenhouse gas considered to be about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its release. 'A different picture'

In methods published and praised in the scientific literature and now in use by the United Nations Environment Program, the team measured emissions at surface level, from a plane and from satellite data.

It's the first time so-called "bottom-up" methods — which depend on ground-based measurements and estimates and is used by industry — have been combined with "top-down" methods from above.

The team looked at 3,500 different oil and gas facilities and 5,600 wells.

It concluded official government and industry estimates of methane emissions from Alberta's oilpatch are 50 per cent too low.

"It's quite a different picture," said Johnson.

In 2021, Alberta's methane emissions were officially estimated to equal 15 megatonnes of carbon dioxide a year. That adds up to the yearly emissions of three million cars, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

If Johnson's paper is right, the correct equivalent for Alberta's emissions would be closer to 4.5 million cars.

The paper also concludes that the methane is coming from significantly different sources than government and industry think it is. Venting from tanks accounts for about a quarter of such emissions, instead of the three per cent that official sources say.

Knowing where the gas is coming from is key to stopping its escape, Johnson said.
Johnson said Environment and Climate Change Canada is currently re-evaluating its methane statistics in light of work from his lab, which has published a series of papers that throw doubt on official numbers. The lab has concluded methane emissions are also underestimated in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

[fjlip]

Libtards/greenies are all CRYING after COP did not call for reductions of oil and gas!

[furrowtickler]

750,000 dairy cows in Ontario and Quebec.

Steers go to local feeders. Cows go to grind.

A large part of the beef supply.

No politician ever upsets Quebec dairy.

They will get an exemption somehow .

[kANOLA]

Libtards/greenies are all CRYING after COP did not call for reductions of oil and gas!

I am hoping the trend continues,these green initiatives are costly to lots of economies.Its time to wake up.

[shtferbrains]

I am hoping the trend continues,these green initiatives are costly to lots of economies.Its time to wake up.

On that topic Sask Power has a survey on now to gauge reaction to future grid supply.

Activist enjoy influencing surveys.

[url]https://engage.saskpower.com/future-power-supply[/url]