Why The Cattle Industry Might Not Use A Drug That Cuts The Pollution Of Manure And Pee

Nearly all American cattle spend their final months in massive feedlots, munching on feed designed to fatten them for slaughter.

But not all that goes into the beasts transforms to beef.

Their four-chamber-stomach digestive systems continually seep all forms of gasses, including the powerful greenhouse gas methane they burp up silently and constantly.

Cattle herds also produce ammonia. By the ton. It’s in their manure and especially in their urine. Because that pungent ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, it can form nitrous oxide and pump more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

But more immediately, ammonia poses a threat to our air and water.