Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uoft02.utoledo.edu!desire!sbishop
From: sbishop@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: sci.bio
Subject: Re: Which end of a cow smells worse?
Message-ID: <720.268e3e5c@desire.wright.edu>
Date: 1 Jul 90 23:18:04 GMT
References: <1990Jun30.191814.13908@agate.berkeley.edu>
Lines: 33

In article <1990Jun30.191814.13908@agate.berkeley.edu>, greg@brahms.berkeley.edu (Greg Kuperberg) writes:
> This question came up in ca.environment.  I understand that cows
> produce a lot of methane because they ruminate.  However, there is
> disagreement as to which exit the methane uses.  Someone in
> ca.environment said it was definitely the front end, while an old
> article in the Economist about air pollution definitely indicated it
> was the rear end.
> 
> Is there an authority on the matter here?  Please send a copy of your
> reply by e-mail.  Thanks in advance.
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> The Tail Gunner
> 
> "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state,
> the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Giggle, giggle, I'm sorry but as a farmer's daughter I thought this was
hilarious.  Anyone who has spent any time around cows KNOWS that the rear
smells much worse than the front!  I don't think the methane comes from the
ruminant.  It comes from the MANURE!  Somehow the idea of cows belching methane
just doesn't get it.  When you burb can you light the resulting gas?  Why don't
some of you city types go spend some time around cows?  
This reminds me of the guy in MISC.RURAL who seriously asked about pollution of
ground water when someone described their pigs wallowing in the stream that
wandered through their pasture.  Farm land is disapearing at an alarming rate. 
All these city dwellers are moving out into the farm land then they get angry
because their neighbor has GASP! HORROR! farm animals!  WALKING AROUND NUDE! 
And CHOKE! having SEX!  Sorry!!!  Just came back from a confrontation with a
neighbor who thought that my horses were an attractive nuisance because I
complained about her precious little darling brats sneaking into my barn at
night.  Then there is their nasty German Shepherd who terrorizes the
neighborhood because they 'think it's mean to keep a big dog confined'.  Now if
I can just get my hands on the mutt he will end up in the dog pound.....