hay is for cows

since the herd is holding a zone, as opposed to rotating, i have taken to shoveling up some of their excess manure to use as a soil amendment.  what amazes me, is the fact that our cows—who are still on pasture, with plenty of grass to roam—generate enough excrement for a pile up to appear noticeable after just a few days of eating in the same place (fifty lbs a day/cow).

imagine a cow factory—a cafo—the feedlot.  imagine how those cows never move—EVER—and imagine how many of them are in the same place.  imagine the manure! lagoons full of the toxic, fermenting, poisonous sludge. 

all the dumb time i hear people talking about how cows are the biggest contributor towards greenhouse gasses.  but it’s not like a cow—a single cow, or a single healthy herd—farting in the wind is causing global warming.  if, however, you pile thousands of them all in a single grass-less, soil-less parking lot, you bet your ass some fumes are gonna generate.

sometimes it just seems people are asking the wrong questions and solving the wrong problems.  not—how can we control the toxic gasses leaching out of shit lagoons.  how about—why raise livestock in a manner that causes toxic shit lagoons?