Well howdy! How's tricks? Moo-ve on over to the coffeepot and fill yer mug. Snag a virtual treat while you're over there, too. Then moo-ve on over here to the VIP table and sit yerself down. I have two moo-ving stories for you today...
1. On dairy farms across the country, cows bizarrely queue up, without prodding, to milk themselves by submitting to $250,000 robots that have recently become the salvation of the industry.
According to an April New York Times report, this advance appears to be "win-win" (except for migrant laborers watching choice jobs disappear) -- more efficient for the farmer and more pleasant for the cow, which -- constantly pregnant -- usually prefers frequent milking.
Amazingly, cows have learned the drill, moseying up to the precise spot to engage the robot's arms for washing and nipple-cupping. The robots also yield copious data tracked from transponders worn around the cow's neck. [New York Times, 4-22-2014]
2. Argentinian agricultural scientists in 2008 created the "methane backpack" to collect the emissions of grazing cows (with a tube from the cow's rumen to the inflatable bag) in order to see how much of the world's greenhouse-gas problem was created by livestock.
Having discovered that figure (it's 25-30 percent), the country's National Institute of Agricultural Technology announced recently that it will start storing the collected methane to convert it to energy.
In a "proof of concept" hypothesis, it estimates that about 300 liters of methane could power a refrigerator for 24 hours. [Fast Company, 4-15-2014]
Don't know about you but frankly, I can't see us having a methane-loaded cow standing next to our fridge all day long.
See ya, eh!
Bob
1. On dairy farms across the country, cows bizarrely queue up, without prodding, to milk themselves by submitting to $250,000 robots that have recently become the salvation of the industry.
According to an April New York Times report, this advance appears to be "win-win" (except for migrant laborers watching choice jobs disappear) -- more efficient for the farmer and more pleasant for the cow, which -- constantly pregnant -- usually prefers frequent milking.
Amazingly, cows have learned the drill, moseying up to the precise spot to engage the robot's arms for washing and nipple-cupping. The robots also yield copious data tracked from transponders worn around the cow's neck. [New York Times, 4-22-2014]
2. Argentinian agricultural scientists in 2008 created the "methane backpack" to collect the emissions of grazing cows (with a tube from the cow's rumen to the inflatable bag) in order to see how much of the world's greenhouse-gas problem was created by livestock.
Having discovered that figure (it's 25-30 percent), the country's National Institute of Agricultural Technology announced recently that it will start storing the collected methane to convert it to energy.
In a "proof of concept" hypothesis, it estimates that about 300 liters of methane could power a refrigerator for 24 hours. [Fast Company, 4-15-2014]
Don't know about you but frankly, I can't see us having a methane-loaded cow standing next to our fridge all day long.
See ya, eh!
Bob
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