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Cows to be Given ‘Methane Suppressants’ From 2025 to Meet Government ‘Emissions’ Targets

by Ian Macleod
2 April 2023 3:00 PM

They don’t know it yet, but Britain’s cattle are about to do their part to meet the country’s emissions targets. According to the Government’s Net Zero Growth Plan, released this week, dairy cows will soon be fed supplements to reduce the amount of methane they expel through belching and breaking wind.

The methane suppressants contain additives like seaweeds, essential oils, organic acids, probiotics and antimicrobials that reduce the amount of gas produced by digestion.

Bovine herd leaders have yet to comment on the scheme. MailOnline has the story.

The plans are expected to add around 33p a year to the cost of milk for the average consumer but ministers could also choose to subsidise the superfood feed. 

Dustin Benton, former government adviser on food strategy, told the Telegraph the suppressants could eventually be given to sheep as well as cows. 

“Most dairy cows are milked twice a day, and when they’re going to be milked they usually eat, so that’s a pretty good way of getting it into them.”

Mr. Benton added that the suppressants were a good start but that further action would be needed to reduce the impact of livestock. 

A government source said that “significant” progress had been made thanks to innovation in agricultural products and that there were “major benefits” to the plans for farmers and the climate.

                        

Worth reading in full.

Tags: Climate AlarmismClimate changeGlobal WarmingGreenhouse GasesNet Zero

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48 Comments
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AynRandyAndy
AynRandyAndy
2 years ago

Go-ahead Government ministers and their progressive fellow travellers need to be force-fed a diet that eliminates brain farts.

Last edited 2 years ago by AynRandyAndy
136
-1
Dinger64
Dinger64
2 years ago
Reply to  AynRandyAndy

😂😂.

I couldn’t help but notice, the cow in the center of the picture has an expression very much similar to the one I would have if I had to suppress mine!

10
0
TheGreenAcres
TheGreenAcres
2 years ago

Can these pills be adapted for the flatulence and hot air expelled by politicians and unelected self-appointed experts?

152
0
nige.oldfart
nige.oldfart
2 years ago
Reply to  TheGreenAcres

I had to smile at the idiocy of this idea, every animal on the planet belches and/ or flatulates, and these idiots want 8 billion of them to have a more vegetable intense diet, if not vegetarian. at the same time medically forcing other animals to change their digestive system to reduce a natural function.

16
0
TheGreenAcres
TheGreenAcres
2 years ago
Reply to  nige.oldfart

As soon as you think they have reached peak absurdity, they take it to a whole new level.

21
0
DS99
DS99
2 years ago

If this was yesterday, I’d think it was an April Fool’s – give me strength!

155
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
2 years ago
Reply to  DS99

That’s what I thought too. It can be hard to tell now that we’re living in Clown World can’t it? What was once absurd-sounding is now the new norm. Yesterday’s offering in the Dutch news is a prime example. I’ll bet many fell for this because nothing would probably surprise many people any more. It is funny though!

”Government officials are planning a string of experiments to reduce human methane and nitrogen waste in line with Brussels directives. The drive, led by a taskforce known as Aanpak Reductie Stikstof Eenheid, has been secretly designated hoge nood – or urgent. Veteran politician Stan Koverlast has been drafted in as ‘toilet tsar’ to negotiate with affected provincial communities in an attempt to break down local objections. His suggestions include closing late-night takeaways by 10pm and banning fizzy lager. ‘People have understandably been kicking up a stink about the idea of having to forgo their frites and drink flat bitter under orders from Brussels, but the alternative is even more unpalatable,’ he said. ‘If we don’t cut our emissions significantly by April 2030, it could cause blockages right through the planning system.’”

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2023/04/april-fool/

52
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huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Mogwai

FFS!

22
-1
Trev the Geek
Trev the Geek
2 years ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Did anyone not notice the initials of the Taskforce? What a load of ARSE! 😂

21
0
Roy Everett
Roy Everett
2 years ago
Reply to  DS99

The name Mootral was a hint that it is an April Fool. They tried garlic but the milk tasted of garlic. Still, making the additive is still a profitable industry provided you get the Government to mandate use of the product. Under Tullock’s Law this is cheaply achievable

Last edited 2 years ago by Roy Everett
13
0
sskinner
sskinner
2 years ago

It’s all for nothing. There is no Climate Emergency just as there were no witches. We are not able to control the Earth’s global average temperature and why isn’t it obvious that it is insane to think that it is possible to control an average temperature of a multi faceted complex global open system. Average temperatures will not tell you anything about the underlying and highly complex dynamics of all of the Earth’s various climates, because averages can’t do that. For example, Russia has 16 climate zones, Australia 6, Ethiopia 14. In the case of Ethiopia it has:

  • Monsoon
  • Savanna
  • Hot Desert
  • Hot Semi-arid
  • Cold Semi-arid
  • Hot Summer Mediterranean
  • Warm Summer Mediterranean
  • Humid Subtropical
  • Subtropical Highland
  • Cold Subtropical Highland
  • Humid Subtropical
  • Oceanic
  • Subpolar oceanic
  • Tundra

In addition many people across the planet will live at the boundaries between different climate zones and these will move and are not fixed in stone, So some people will think the climate (singular) is changing. Are people less or more observant of the world around them?

145
-1
Roy Everett
Roy Everett
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

“First of all, developed countries have basically expropriated the atmosphere of the world community. But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole.”. [Ottmar Edenhofer, IPCC]

14
0
sskinner
sskinner
2 years ago
Reply to  Roy Everett

1966 Oil Gone in Ten Years
1967 Dire Famine Forecast by 1975
1968 Over population will spread worldwide
1969 Everyone will disappear in a cloud of blue steam by 1989
1970 World will use up all its natural resources by 2000
1970 Urban citizens will require gas masks by 1985
1970 Nitrogen build up will make all land unusable
1970 Decaying pollution will kill all the fish
1970s Killer bees
1970 Ice Age by 2000
1970 America subject to water rationing by 1974 and food rationing by 1980 1971 New Ice Age coming by 2020 or 2030
1972 New Ice age by 2070
1972 Oil depleted in 20 years
1974 Space satellites show new Ice Age coming fast
1974 Another Ice Age?
1974 Ozone depletion a ‘Great Peril to Life’
1976 Scientific consensus Planet cooling, famines imminent
1977 Department of Energy says Oil will peak in 90s
1978 No end in sight to 30 year cooling trend
1980 Acid Rain kills life in lakes
1980 Peak Oil in 2000
1988 Regional droughts in 1990s (that never happened)
1988 Temperatures in DC will hot record highs
1988 Maldive Islands will be underwater by 2018 (Maldives opened five new airports in 2019)
1989 Rising sea levels will obliterate nations if nothing done by 2000
1989 New York City’s West Side Highway underwater by 2019 (it’s not)
1996 Peak oil in 2020
2000 Children won’t know what snow is
2002 Famine in 10 years if we don’t give up eating fish, meat and dairy
2002 Peak Oil in 2010
2004 Britain will be Siberia by 2024
2005 Manhattan underwater by 2015
2006 Super Hurricanes 2008 Arctic will be ice free by 2018
2008 Climate genius Al Gore predicts Ice-Free Arctic by 2013
2009 Climate genius Prince Charles says we have 96 months (8 years) to save the world
2009 UK Prime Minister says 50 days to ‘Save the planet from catastrophe’ 2009 Climate Genius Al Gore moves 2013 prediction of Ice-Free Arctic to 2014 (remember Harold Camping?)
2013 Arctic Ice-Free by 2015
2014 Only 500 days before ‘Climate Chaos’
2019 Ocasio-Cortez: “The World Is Going To End In 12 Years If We Don’t Address Climate Change”

81
-1
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

That’s nailed it.👍

26
-1
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

When steam trains were in their infancy, it was said that they would be useless for transporting people at speeds above 20mph because all the air would be sucked out.

21
0
JohnK
JohnK
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

And that’s just a selection.The 1976 “planet cooling” one is ironic; I seem to remember there was a heatwave in the UK in that year!

17
0
varmint
varmint
2 years ago
Reply to  sskinner

100% fail rate. ———-Yet people still believe it all and some are so thoroughly captured by their secular religious cult that they glue themselves to roads and buildings.

13
0
NeilParkin
NeilParkin
2 years ago

Wasn’t April Fools Day yesterday..?

27
0
Chris P
Chris P
2 years ago

Guess who has recently invested in a company that makes methane suppressants: –

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/24/world/cows-methane-emissions-seaweed-bill-gates-climate-intl/index.html

37
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago

A more blatant example of bovine stupidity would be difficult to find.

On a more serious note the health implications for the national herd don’t bear thinking about. And poorly livestock will ultimately mean poorly humans. Still it’s bound to be ‘safe and effective.’

45
-1
David Stacey
David Stacey
2 years ago

As a dairy farmer who has fed seaweed to cows in the past I welcome this low cost intervention to reduce methane.

0
-6
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  David Stacey

Hmm. You might have fed cattle seaweed but it’s an odds on bet these so-called supplements will also carry some dodgy ingredients that will not help with cattle health. And if cattle health is undermined it is an odds on bet there will be an adverse effect on human health.

22
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
2 years ago
Reply to  David Stacey

Hello David, why is it necessary to reduce methane (apart from “saving the planet”, obviously)?

Last edited 2 years ago by Marcus Aurelius knew
11
0
David Stacey
David Stacey
2 years ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

I am not a climate catastrophist but happy to sensibly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels where we can do so cost-effectively and to reduce other greenhouse gas emissions. I believe the supplements change the cow’s gut enzymes to reduce methane production – we of course need to make sure they are truly safe and effective.

1
-1
Chris P
Chris P
2 years ago
Reply to  David Stacey

How does feeding cows seaweed reduce the country’s reliance on fossil fuels?

3
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
2 years ago
Reply to  David Stacey

Who is the “we” in “we need to make sure they are truly safe and effective” , David?

And you haven’t answered my first question.

1
0
David Stacey
David Stacey
2 years ago
Reply to  Marcus Aurelius knew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Ed84v_C5k&t=438s I don’t agree with all of this but it is an admirable defence of the cow. And we can reduce methane emissions too!

0
-1
Chris P
Chris P
2 years ago
Reply to  David Stacey

I hope the part you disagree with is when he says there is a climate crisis? He praises the cow and then says their numbers need to be reduced by 20%. I assume a dairy farmer would also disagree with that?

1
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  David Stacey

What exactly are greenhouse gas emissions and how and in what way do they effect this millions year old planet spinning through space?

3
0
GrouchoMarques
GrouchoMarques
2 years ago

The cows won’t be given a choice in this. We’re all cattle, you know.

I wonder who makes the suppressants? Follow the money.

Last edited 2 years ago by GrouchoMarques
16
0
Myra
Myra
2 years ago

Just out of interest has anyone actually shown that this does what it says on the packet?
The large size of the cows stomachs suggests that you would probably have to give litres of the stuff and would it not mess up their digestive system?
April fool?

Last edited 2 years ago by Myra
11
-1
mikkip
mikkip
2 years ago

Just leave the poor cows alone, you insane meddlers and do-gooders!

11
0
Mark Thornton
Mark Thornton
2 years ago

can we have a referendum on Net Zero please?
its starting to get on my nerves

19
0
Jon Garvey
Jon Garvey
2 years ago

How many cow-years of methane are equal to two Nordstream pipelines worth? Does US Intelligence stay green by offsetting the greenhouse gases from blowing up the pipelines by banning meat in America?

We need to be told.

10
0
DevonBlueBoy
DevonBlueBoy
2 years ago

Aren’t April Fool’s jokes supposed to be confined to April 1st?

6
0
varmint
varmint
2 years ago

Carbon, carbon, carbon, carbon. ———–Western governments have carbon on the brain. The industrial revolution started in Britain and apparently Britain is to save the planet harder and faster than everyone else. So we end up with an energy policy out of Alice in Wonderland, millions in energy poverty having the government pay a chunk of their bill, with thousands of huge industrial turbines to provide us with part time energy. We want rid of perfectly good cars and fantastic central heating systems (gas). We want to reduce everything people do down to the bare minimum. ——-Our braindead politicians pander to the United Nations rather than to the people who vote for them and bludgeon us into submission with tales of a “climate emergency” for which no evidence exists. The “emergency” exists only in un-validated climate models churned out by government funded data adjusters. In the real world of observations, no such emergency exists. When we are told that everything that ever occurs is caused by fossil fuels with zero evidence to back it up then we long ago stopped dealing with science. Climate Change is “Official Science”, and it is virtually impossible to get a scientist to be objective when his salary and funding depends on being the opposite. If government are going to chuck money about like confetti for scientists to look for purple horses then it is understandable that there will be more and more of them hunting for those purple horses and in no big hurry to say they can’t find any. ——–This nonsense with cattle is just another example of the subsidy farming industry desperate to come up with anything at all no matter how absurd so they can rake in taxpayers money for their braindead idea.

13
0
RTSC
RTSC
2 years ago

I thought this was an April Fool story. It’s as mad as the proposal to fit cows with masks, which Charlie-Boy thought was such a good idea.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2022/04/27/face-masks-cows-could-help-save-planet-one-burp-time/

8
0
RTSC
RTSC
2 years ago

I expect they’ll be taxing Baked Beans next ….. to “save the planet.”

7
0
nige.oldfart
nige.oldfart
2 years ago

Question. Wasn’t CJD in humans caused by feeding cattle something they shouldn’t have eaten when introduced into their feed as a waste recycling measure? Another good idea at the time.

15
0
Marcus Aurelius knew
Marcus Aurelius knew
2 years ago
Reply to  nige.oldfart

True, but CJD in humans was another fuss about nothing. The slaughter of all those healthy cows, on the other hand…

8
0
Anonymous
Anonymous
2 years ago

Is it important to note that this story emerged on April Fools Day?

3
0
Peter W
Peter W
2 years ago

Ian, it’s April 3rd. You missed the April 1st deadline!
Mind you with the muppets we have trying to control our lives then every day is April 1st.

3
0
Bella Donna
Bella Donna
2 years ago

Leave the cows alone! I suggest the methane suppressants should be given to our political class! The Green Party both here and abroad are yet another fascistic entity we need to quell. Our lives are being turned upside down by malevolent unelected billionaires who want to rule over us without our consent!

6
0
David101
David101
2 years ago

“Bovine herd leaders have yet to comment on the scheme”.

This, I imagine, is because they are lost for words. Is this really a scheme to tackle “climate change”, or an effort to discourage people from eating beef? If I were not already a vegetarian, I would be tempted to become one today!

If this is being done as a contribution towards the “Net Zero” target, then “net zero” is about the difference it will make.

5
0
JXB
JXB
2 years ago

How about feeding politicians with suppressants?

6
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  JXB

Of the ‘pb’ variety?

2
0
Trev the Geek
Trev the Geek
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

Shall I tell you the joke about sodium?
Na.

2
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Trev the Geek

😀😀😀

1
0

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