Ruminants are more beneficial for environment than you think

SO MUCH hype has been spread about the amount of greenhouse gases passed into the atmosphere by ruminants that environmentally sensitive consumers feel guilty about their love for beef and dairy products, even wool (which, by the way, doesn’t pollute the earth with microplastics the way synthetic materials like polyester do.)

- ROELOF BEZUIDENHOUT

The truth is, say down-to-earth scientists, that herbivores actually do more good than harm and that part of the bad publicity they so unfairly attract can be blamed on the way their carbon footprints are measured. Only their emissions are considered and not the huge tonnage of carbon they put back into the soil every day.

Environmental economist, Professor James Blignaut, explains that ruminants - from farm animals to antelope - are grazing herbivores that depend on plant-based food.

They ferment their food in a specialised stomach prior to digestion. Due to this microbe-driven, fermentation-based digestive system, the animal orally releases large quantities of methane, a greenhouse gas associated with climate change.

However, only a portion of this methane ends up in the stratosphere - where its stay is short-lived; it returns as carbon dioxide and water, which, along with sunlight and photosynthesis, is instrumental in plant and animal growth. It is this notorious fermentation process that drives the narrative that sheep and cattle are detrimental for the climate and the environment in general.

But, on a pure body-mass, there are more ruminants today than ever. If the total global weight of ruminants is less today than, say, a hundred years ago, why are they so bad for the environment now?