Really not a joke! New Zealand's plan to tax cow and sheep burps

New Zealand has unveiled a plan to tax sheep and cattle burps in a bid to tackle one of the country's biggest sources of greenhouse gases.

It would make it the first nation to charge farmers for the methane emissions from the animals they keep.

When it comes to greenhouse gases, we think of carbon dioxide, but methane is also a greenhouse gas, and its warming potential is 80 times that of carbon dioxide.

The reason why cattle and sheep are taxed for burping and farting is because they release a lot of methane. How strong is the methane they release? It can even cause a fire.

Maybe you will wondering the cow can release so much greenhouse gas?Actually yes

#Methane?(CH4) is one of the?#greenhouse?gases that currently cause global concern, along with carbon dioxide (Co2) and nitrous oxide (N?O). Even though methanogens play a major role in the removal of hydrogen (H2) from the rumen to prevent inhibition of microbial metabolism, methane has no nutritional value for the animal and is released into the atmosphere mainly by eructation and breath. Because methane is a strong greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, enteric methane production has become one of the main targets of greenhouse gas mitigation practices for the dairy industry. Ruminants, like cows and sheep, have special, complex digestive systems that contain multichambered stomachs to digest the feed (rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum). When the feed is fermented in the rumen by microorganisms, it produces methane gas as a byproduct.?#Methan?leaves the body by eructation, which means emitting stomach gas through the mouth (also called belching).?

Currently, there are several strategies for mitigating methane emissions, including nutritional, management, and genetic improvement. Part of the nutritional strategy to alleviate methane production is using feed additives. Some feed additives are methanogenesis inhibitors, which are natural or synthetic compounds that directly inhibit methanogenesis by rumen archaea. One of the feed additives that acts as an inhibitor is 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-Nop), alongside other inhibitors. For more than a decade, mitigating methane has been one of the priorities that the ruminant nutritionist takes into account when formulating rations for dairy cows.

In the past, people have raised cattle and sheep for thousands of years, and there has never been a "fart and burp tax" imposed on cattle and sheep. Why is the tax imposed this time?

This matter has to mention a keyword "carbon neutral".

The plan is still a draft, and the content of the draft also includes reducing emissions through feed additives and encouraging the development of farm forestry to offset emissions.

What's your opinion of this plan?