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Tuesday 8 May 2012

Sheep fart collecting


From the Calgary Herald comes exciting news that New Zealand scientists are collecting sheep farts. The question of disposal springs to mind, but as the world is not actually warming, perhaps it isn't a huge problem. 

As for our boffins - well we can't very well put them in boxes to measure their output can we? 

PALMERSTON NORTH, NEW ZEALAND -- Scientists have long accepted that gas from farm animals is a major factor in climate change, but how do you stop cattle and sheep from doing what comes naturally?

That’s the question consuming researchers in New Zealand who hope that by measuring every belch and bleat of their sheepish subjects they can come up with a solution.

Researcher Peter Janssen says the project, in which the animals are kept in perspex — clear acrylic resin — boxes so that their emissions can be measured, has the potential to make a real difference in the fight against global warming.

6 comments:

Macheath said...

First dinosaurs, now this - what a week!

Perhaps the scientists should be following up this blast from the past, which sounds rather more fun for the sheep...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/7873998/Curry-for-sheep-could-curb-global-warming.html

(PS Shouldn't your first paragraph read 'sheep farts'? Or is this some obscure variation - like with lightning?)

A K Haart said...

Mac - oops thanks - unpleasant Freudian slip there!

Anonymous said...

Sounds ridiculous but then I thought broomsticks getting shorter with inceasing speed sounded ridiculous.

Surely animals have been around a very very long time and in very very large numbers without catastophe. Ok, we might have a few more sheep in New Zealand but I find it hard to imagine that could really be a problem.

So, we wait and see.

A K Haart said...

Roger - and what about bacteria? We can't even count them.

James Higham said...

Is this like collecting sunbeams from cucumbers?

A K Haart said...

James - yes, but not so pleasant.