“Let's Enjoy Our Cows and Stop Worrying About Them. There's A Lot To Like, After All.”, by THOMAS J SHEPSTONE
“My memories of growing up on a dairy farm lead me to appreciate his pride, despite having been swatted in the face by a dirty cow’s tail more than once as I was attaching a milking machine.”
“Let's Enjoy Our Cows and Stop Worrying About Them. There's A Lot To Like, After All.”
Cows are big and dumb, but they are, nonetheless, rather marvelous creatures. They are, first of all, strangely aesthetic. Here, to illustrate, is a Google Earth driveby photo of the scene in Hawley, Pennsylvania as you enter Main Street:
The cow painted on the outside wall of the store is accompanied by a “Celebrate Hawley” message below. The model for the artist who did the painting was a Holstein owned by the Chair of our County Board of Commissioners, who loves cows and is proud to note that his cow.
My memories of growing up on a dairy farm lead me to appreciate his pride, despite having been swatted in the face by a dirty cow’s tail more than once as I was attaching a milking machine. I can assure you it’s not pleasant. Yet, I also like cows. They look beautiful in the field; they give us ice cream, cheese, yogurt, and much more. They provide a reason to preserve open spaces.
They provide jobs for farmers, feed mill workers, truckers, processors, retailers, packagers, restaurant waitresses, and artists who paint pictures of cows that can be found everywhere. Moreover, when their day is done we can eat them. Indeed, many of your meat products in big food stores come from culled dairy cows, not to mention the fact beef are cows, too.
Some folks, though, have problems with cows. They say cows breathe, burp and fart and we cannot tolerate this. They say raising cows requires growing crops that require fertilizer and we can't have that either. For the sake of planet, you know. The leaders promoting this sort of thinking, of course, typically have no farm experience and most likely have no children either. So, they obsess on the health of a planet that hardly needs our help to survive.
They would never grasp the joy I had as a 12-year old sent to get the cows as I rounded them up and sent them toward the barn, while pausing along the brook that ran through our pasture to build a small dam. No, they few farming as a threat to the planet and, by the way, they want the land for themselves. They're more than happy to destroy the farm and relegate us to eating bugs.
Unless you’re an arrogant Dutch politician eager to please the EU, though, you realize just grabbing the land and putting the farmers out on the street is not especially good politics. That’s how some really dumb ideas come forth, presumably with the intention of driving farmers so crazy they'll abandon the farms on their own. One of those is adding stuff to the cows’ diets to reduce the methane produced. According to this story, Arla Foods, a Danish-Swedish dairy giant, has "announced a trial for a controversial feed additive aimed at reducing methane emissions from cows.”
The company, which owns the UK’s largest dairy cooperative, revealed on November 26 that it is partnering with major British retailers such as Morrisons, Aldi, and Tesco to trial Bovaer, a methane-reducing product…
Bovaer is designed to reduce enteric methane emissions from cows by 27% on average. It works by suppressing an enzyme in the cow’s stomach that produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
There is just one problem:
The ingredients in Bovaer—silicon dioxide, propylene glycol, and 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP)—have raised serious concerns. Despite claims from animal nutrition experts at DSM, the company behind Bovaer, that it is safe for animals and consumers, the UK Food Standards Agency issued a report last year highlighting the potential dangers of 3-NOP. The report described it as “corrosive to the eyes, a skin irritant, and potentially harmful by inhalation,” which has raised alarms about the safety of the additive for workers handling it.
In response to the announcement, many social media users voiced concerns, with some accusing Arla of promoting chemical-laden solutions under the influence of billionaire Bill Gates, who has invested in a rival methane-reducing technology.
As a result, consumer calls for a boycott of Arla products are gaining momentum. Shoppers are being encouraged to avoid popular items such as Cravendale, Lurpak Butter, Anchor Spreadable, and Skyr, citing concerns about the introduction of chemicals into the food supply without sufficient testing or regulatory approval.
So, the farmers are caught in a Catch 22 situation, where they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t, once again showing us the supposed intersectionality of leftist causes, is a ruse. The climate freaks and the health freaks have come to a head-on collision, but that’s the idea. It's all about collapsing the system, and getting everyone to give up and surrender to the folks who want all the money, all the power, and all the land for themselves.
Somehow, I doubt it will work for them. There is an awakening taking place across the world, a recognition that we’ve been taken for a ride on the subjects of global warming, health, war, and much else. One of those lies is that CO2 and methane are a problem. We now know, for instance, that methane deteriorates into CO2 and we’ve always known CO2 grows plants that produce oxygen, the air we need to live. We and the cows are all part of a biogenic cycle that virtually defines sustainability to the extent we can do so.
Yes, we are in the midst of a crazy few decades, but the excesses are shoving the pendulum the other way now, so let’s just enjoy the entertainment and our cows as things reverse.
Hat Tip: Legal Insurrection
#Cows #Methane #CO2 #Climate
I love the lighthearted tone of this, which balances the evil and misguided actions of a minute group of madmen seeking to impose their mindset on the world.
I love cows. 😁 Hands off!