Tuesday, 20 April 2021 16:16

P!ss off!

Written by The Hound

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

OPINION: The Hound was intrigued to read about a project that NZ scientists are working on to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) produced from sheep by encouraging the animals to empty their bladders at night!

Apparently, the GHG nitrous oxide is created when large amounts of nitrogen ener the soil and one of the biggest sources of nitrogen is animal urine.

The scientists found that 60% of the nitrogen in the animals' urine came during the 12 hours following a big meal and believe that shifting sheep to a new paddock late in the afternoon could result in more nitrogen entering the soil at night, when it is cooler.

That's because soil bugs produce 10 to 40% more nitrous oxide in hot, summery conditions, so this has the potential to reduce the amount of nitrous oxide being produced by sheep.

Perhaps farmers will soon be potty training their sheep in an effort to reduce their GHG emissions!

More like this

Leaky waka

OPINION: Was the ASB Economic Weekly throwing shade on Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr when reporting on his speech in Washington recently?

Know-it-alls

OPINION: A reader recently had a shot at the various armchair critics that she judged to be more than a bit preachy, telling sheep farmers how they "must learn" and "embrace change" and various other platitudes that armchair critics bandy about on LinkedIn and on the speaker circuit in 'NZ agbiz'.

Mixed legacy

OPINION: You're never as good as when you're dead, and with due respect to Theo Spierings' family, the Hound can't let the death of the former Fonterra CEO pass without mentioning the parlous state he left Fonterra in when he exited in 2018 - having pocketed well north of $30 million over seven years.

Dead in the water

OPINION: In a victory for common sense over virtue signalling, David Parker's National Policy Statement (NPS) work on freshwater is now dead in the water.

'Mea culpa'

OPINION: The Reserve Bank’s rate cut is great news, albeit a bit late, but your old mate agrees with Act leader David Seymour that the cut – with more to come – is a “multi-billion dollar mea culpa” by the RBNZ.

Featured

LCAs tackle false narratives

The quest to measure, report and make sense of the energy that goes into food production has come a long way in the past 25 years.

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of a major software project.

Organic dairying - a natural fit for Māori

Driving down Broadlands Road, northeast of Taupo there's a cluster of 19 Pāmu dairy farms around what is known as the Wairakei Estate.

Organic sector backtracks on GE

Organics Aotearoa New Zealand (OANZ) says the Government’s new gene editing and genetic modification reforms could leave New Zealand as an outlier on the global stage.

Weak supply keeping prices high

Weaker milk production in the Northern Hemisphere is keeping dairy prices high.

$3b windfall?

Fonterra's proposed sale of its global consumer business could fetch over $3 billion but not all proceeds will end up in the pockets of farmer shareholders.

National

National catchment advocacy group elects first chair

A North Canterbury farmer has been elected as the first chair of Aotearoa New Zealand Catchment Communities (ANZCC).

New tricks from food science at international conference

Can discarded beef skins become premium dog food? Would camel milk work for your morning flat white? These are just…

Food charity to hold online auction

Meat the Need, New Zealand’s dedicated charity delivering locally sourced protein meals to food-insecure communities, is launching an online National…