• Teaching cows to use the toilet is not the easiest task, but a Dutch inventor is banking on a new bovine urinal to help cut emissions that cause environmental damage.

The Experiment:

• The cow toilets are currently being tested on a farm in Doetinchem and seven of its 58 cows have already learned how to use them without the need for stimulation. The urinal is in a box placed behind the cow, while in front is a feeding trough.
• Once the animal finishes eating a robot arm stimulates a nerve near the udders, which then makes it want to urinate.
• The device collects some of the 15 to 20 litres of urine that the average cow produces a day that produces huge amounts of ammonia.
• Bovine urine is kept aside from solid manure to reduce the release of ammonia.

 

Cow Urine and Global Warming:

• Cow urine a minor fount of research in India for its medicinal benefits may also contribute to global warming.The urine from the ruminant is a source of nitrous oxide emissions (N2O), a gas that is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
• Most times, when cow urine is used in degraded pastures, which are also seen in vast tracts of land in India, N2O emissions are tripled, says a study conducted in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago.
• Less understood
• That cattle and livestock are a significant source of methane, a greenhouse gas, and therefore a contributor to global warming, is well-known. However, the role of cow urine isless understood.
• For the study, researchers collected urine from cattle and spilled 500 millilitre samples on paired cattle fields classified as degraded or healthy, which was determined by vegetation
• coverage. In six of the seven test sites, degraded pastures emitted significantly more N2O sometimes up to three times as much