this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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You can absolutely raise cattle in an energy neutral (or potentially even energy positive) way. Cattle, in nature, consume grass. Most of the energy the cows get from the grass comes from solar energy. If they're being raised on land that is not being used for anything else and no equipment or anything else is used, the area gathers more energy than it costs.
However, this is generally not how cattle is raised. In order to meet the large demands of our society other methods are used that cost more energy. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but it won't be done on a large scale.
Unless you find a way to prevent cows methane farts, being energy neutral won't solve the problem.
The Methane is generated from chemical reactions involving what they eat. The corn they're fed frequently in the US (because of our massive corn subsidies) makes them worse than they would normally be. No matter what though, they expel what they take in. The carbon for the Methane is gathered by grass from carbon dioxide in the air. Methane breaks down relatively quickly back into CO2. It's mostly a non-issue if it were done in a healthy way.
Again, we aren't and won't be doing it sustainably (at a large scale), so this is all a thought exercise. If you were to raise cattle yourself on land that doesn't otherwise have a use, it'd be carbon and energy neutral. It's all a part of a system. Humans break that system, but cattle don't need to. They only do when humans are involved.
I keep hearing promising things about certain types of seaweed being an additive to cattle feed that dramatically lowers their emissions.
But that costs money, so I'm not holding my breath on factory farms implementing it on their own prerogative.