“Researchers at the University of Wales are looking at how introducing different grasses into cattle diets can help reduce methane emissions. Cattle and dairy cows on factory farms are typically fed a high-protein diet of corn and soybeans, which…leads to a variety of digestive problems. Scientists believe that more-digestible feed will reduce these problems and thus help curb related methane emissions. Not surprisingly, some of the grasses found commonly in pastures and meadows in the UK—including white clover, rye, and a flower called bird’s foot trefoil—are all highly digestible.” – Danielle Nierenberg
It’s amazing. When you feed an animal the food it evolved to consume, it stops having health problems. What will science think of next?
Incidentally, there’s a great bison ranch in northern MN that raises bison naturally on prairie grasses and other appropriate diet and has really reasonable prices (http://www.bisonisbetter.com/). They ship frozen to the door and it’s replaced most of the beef we eat.