Day 61 - On The Eighth Day of Nature

On the Eighth Day of Nature my true love sent to me, eight Maids a-milking , seven Swans a-swimming, six Geese a-laying, five Golden Eyes, four Calling Birds, three brown Chickens, two Collared Doves and a Partridge on a Board Walk.

Belted Galloways
(stripy cows - Mums favourites!)

Hi all, today's Day 62 or the Eighth Day of Christmas. If you follow my blog you'll know that I'm doing my own version of the 12 Days of Christmas called the 12 Days of Nature. The eighth verse of the original song goes like this. On the Eighth Day of Christmas my true love sent to me, eight Maids a-milking , seven Swans a-swimming, six Geese a-laying, etc.

For my alternate version the eighth day is still eight Maids a-milking, but I am not going to focus on the maid but instead the cows and the farming that goes with them. Now cows are lovely but I didn't know how much of an impact they have on the environment. Here are some cow facts:

• They are social animals and form large herds, they will, however, make friends with some cows but not others.

• 

  A Highland Cow on the North York Moors

   The average dairy cow weighs 1,200 pounds.

• They are ruminants, meaning they eat a plant based diet which they partially digest or ferment before regurgitating as cud, chewing again and then fully digesting.

• 

  Posing for the camera

  Despite popular belief cows only have one stomach, although it does have 4 digestive compartments.

• A Cows vision is almost panoramic covering just under 360 degrees.

• Cows are red-green colour blind.

• An average dairy cow produces 8 gallons of milk per day, or around 200,000 glasses of milk in their lifetime.

So, some facts about the beef and dairy industry:

• While the dairy industry is locally focused there are an estimated 270 million dairy cattle worldwide.

• There is concern over the increase in demand for dairy produce as it needs a lot of land for cows to graze and for the production of their feed. 

• Global demand for dairy products is rising and in some areas it requires natural habitats to be used for farming. Where farming practices are not good livestock farming can lead to habitats becoming deserts, obviously not good for wildlife!

• Cows can produce a lot of methane, a gas that is a concern in global warming. Different breeds and different diets can affect the amount they produce. Some people say giving up beef is going to help global warming more than giving up cars.

• There are lots of initiatives going on to make the beef and dairy industry more sustainable and to have less impact on global warming, but if you compare the effect of various diets, it would seem we can all help by eating a little less beef and dairy.

Here are some links to more information:

Dairy Moos - facts about cows

WWF - Dairy industry

Guardian - Beef Carbon Foot print

Diet Carbon Foot Print 

This is Dairy Farming - how the industry is changing

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.