Do We Use Bovaer On Our Cows?
We still get occasionally asked by customers asking if we've been using Bovaer or anything similar on our cows, since it became a hot topic in November 2024. For any of you not in the loop, this is a 'methane-reducing' feed additive that was given to cows on a number of farms in this country, with talk of rolling it out much more widely in the near future.
Well, the answer is (drum-roll)... absolutely not, no way never, never have done, never will do!
What a ludicrous idea. To use a cocktail of chemicals with doubtful safety data, to solve a problem that doesn't or shouldn't exist anyway.
Methane from cattle is a complete non-issue (especially grass-fed cattle eating a species-appropriate diet). Yes cows emit some methane but it's part of a natural cycle - it's broken down to its component parts over a period of time, then cycled back through the cow again. There used to be massive herds of wild ruminants, far more than ruminants alive today - they weren't a problem then. So it's not the cow, it's the 'how' as they say. The problem is when we start over-cultivating land to grow 'crops' to feed to cows and indeed to people (this is why plant based is not the answer because we're often increasing cultivations)
The only way to fix whatever environmental and climatic issues we have, is for more land to be managed under perennial grassland as a natural ecosystem that protects the soil and improves cycling of water, nutrients, minerals and carbon. Green plants constantly photosynthesising and sequestering carbon into the soil. And the only way to manage this kind of ground cover is with grazing herbivores, kept in a way that mimics the movements of wild creatures, constantly moving to fresh pasture and leaving the old behind to recover. And the bonus point here is that this ancient system also produces some seriously nutritious, nutrient dense food for humans... it's almost like that's how it was meant to be!?
It's complete arrogance (or at least ignorance) to think that we can interfere with these natural systems - what unknown consequences could this ultimately have to cows, people, or the environment? Most of the problems we are dealing with now as a society, are the result of 'solutions' that seemed like a good idea at some point in the past. As humans, we often think so reductively and lose complete sight of the bigger picture! Not to mention big corporate companies looking to cash in by selling 'solutions' to problems that don't exist, or that they caused in the first place.
It's been frankly refreshing to see the scale of backlash on this since the story broke a year and half ago. Who would have thought it, people caring more about what is fed to animals and ultimately themselves, than they do about some corporate greenwashing story... maybe there is some hope!?