So, it seems that a farm in northern Ireland has decided to put their cows to work to produce energy. At first glance this seems like a pretty awesome way of reducing the carbon footprint of the farm. Essentially the cows are put onto a treadmill and act as a “Livestock Power Mill.” According to the calculations of the inventor, if the world’s 1.3 billion cattle were to work out on the treadmills for 8 hours a day, they could produce 6% of the world’s power.
Here’s where the ethics get sketchy. The device works by putting the cows on a non-powered, inclined belt where, to avoiding slipping down, they have to walk. This results in the belt turning and the powering of a generator. Apparently one cow = 2 kilowatts. While the logic is somewhat specious, this is not considered cruel because cows normally spend 8 hours a day walking around grazing. My response that is simply to put it into human context. Sure, we humans spend 8 hours a day working, but it sure seems cruel and unusual when we do it in a cubicle.
I would like to finish with a simple logic puzzle. If happy, fat, relaxed cows who get massages and are fed the very best grass produce some of the best beef (e.g., Kobe beef), can I then generalize this to mean that cows who live lives of luxury taste better? If so, what do grunt labor cows taste like? Think it over.
Via Popular Science
