See link:http://sxxz.blogspot.com/2008/01/do-cow-farts-cause-global-warming.html

I wonder if you eat hamburgers or steaks, then fart, if it makes you put more gas in the air? ;-)

It really isn't the farts, it's the burps. I asked a question like this a few day ago. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1529267 And it's more like 25%.

I think that is really stretching it. No wonder people dismiss the global warming threats as nonsense. There arent' that many cows on the planet to make that much gas. If there were, the rest of the animal and human population would kill us all. I think we have more to worry about with autos and factories before the poor cows. Poppycock.

Perhaps we ought to eat less cows. We then wouldn't need to grow so many cows. And a side benefit is we wouldn't be bringing on our early death from consuming too much red meat.

1) Only about 2% of Global Warming is caused by Enteric Fermentation. Enteric Fermentation represents a 10% contribution to Global Warming among the Non-CO2 emissions. Only a small percentage of Enteric Fermentation comes from cow flatulences, the greatest part is belched: "Enteric fermentation is fermentation that takes place in the digestive systems of ruminant animals. It is one of the factors in increased methane emissions. Most of the CH4 byproduct is belched by the animal, however, a small percentage of CH4 is also produced in the large intestine and passed out as gas." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_fermentation As a conclusion, before advising cows to eat a better diet it would be more effective to reduce our energy related production of CO2. 2) "Distribution of Total U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions by End-Use Sector, 2007 (Million Metric Tons Carbon Dioxid Equivalent)(Total for all sectors) Carbon Dioxide (CO2): 6,021.8 Methane: 699.9 Nitrous Oxide: 383.9 HFCs: 144.9 PFCs: 10.1 Total Non-CO2: 1260.6 Total Emissions: 7,282.4 Enteric Fermentation: 138.5 (part of Methane)" Source and further information: "Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Report (2007)" http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/index.html http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/pdf/enduse_tbl.pdf According to this report, "Enteric Fermentation" is 11% of the total *Non-CO2* emissions and only 1.9% of all emissions. Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_equivalent 3) Further information: - "Greener diet reduces dairy cows' methane burps": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/21/AR2009062100518_pf.html - "Greenhouse gas": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas - "Atmospheric methane": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_methane - "Livestock's long shadow...": http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.htm