We all win if our cows have a comfier lifestyle
WELL, we all know that pampering our cats and dogs can make them feel at home – but researchers are now saying farmers who do the same for their cows can help cut the carbon footprint of their businesses, too.
In the past, the farming press was awash with ways to improve efficiency and to help us get better returns from our farms.
Recently, that seems to have changed and the emphasis of a lot of the research and development which comes out of our institutes and advisory services now seems to be on making things environmentally friendly by reducing carbon emissions.
But the strange thing is that these two aspects often go hand in hand and this change of emphasis is maybe just a way of rebranding something we’ve always done anyway.
Most governments now issue targets for environmental improvements and these often come along with a whole lot of rules and regulations, something which very few people or businesses look forward to.
But there’s usually a wee bit of encouragement in there, too, a sort of carrot and stick approach.
And one way of reducing the carbon footprint of a farm, a house, a business or even a country is basically to make it work more efficiently and less wastefully.
So, as this generally makes economic as well as environmental sense, the advisory services who have offered us guidance on these things have realised they might key into more government funding if they promote their ideas under this heading.
While that might sound a bit cynical, I’d have to admit that this sort of approach generally marks a win/win situation.
And so, improving the wellbeing and welfare of your cows by giving them comfier and healthier homes will help them to produce more milk.
But, if it can also reduce the amount of time which the cows spend on the equivalent of sick leave, farmers can also save a lot of feed and other inputs which would otherwise be required to nurse sick animals, reducing waste and expense.
So keeping cows happy and healthy is good example of supporting productivity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for every pint of milk produced. And the same goes for beef and lamb too.
It can even be extended to growing grass and crops. If we make sure our soils are in good health, plants get the best opportunity to make the most of things as well and can produce bigger yields too – another win/win situation.