British farmers are feeding surprising ingredient to their cows in bid to save the planet
FARMERS are coming up trumps — by using daffodil feed to cut down on cow farts and help save the planet.
Scientists believe a chemical in the flower can reduce the greenhouse gas methane produced by livestock.
Farms in Wales, where the daffodil is a national symbol, are testing it on cattle to see if it can help tackle climate change.
Andrew Evans is among those feeding herds daff compounds to reduce their gaseous outputs.
Andrew, of Welshpool in Powys, said: “It’s a trial that could potentially mitigate the impacts of methane in the environment.
“And it’s the national flower of Wales, isn’t it? So we’re quite keen on that.”
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Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas after CO2 — and much of it is released by grazing animals, or ruminants, such as cows and sheep when they burp and fart.
Fellow Powys cattle farmer and daffodils grower Kevin Stephens is also part of the team developing the new feed.
He said: “We started growing daffodils to produce an Alzheimer’s drug, but we discovered they also produce a compound that prevents ruminants from producing methane.”
Scientists from Scotland’s Rural College successfully extracted a chemical from the flower called haemanthamine.
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Using an artificial cow’s stomach in a lab, they showed it could reduce emissions by 30 per cent when added to feed.