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Cattleman testimony: Grazing doesn’t harm the environment

A cattleman testified to a Senate clean air subcommittee Tuesday that livestock grazing does not hurt the environment. Eastern South Dakota cattle feeder Todd Wilkinson of DeSmet, South Dakota, told subcommittee members climate change policies fail to recognize the positive role of cattle. He says most of the methane emitted by cattle oxidizes to CO2, which is absorbed by grass that is eaten by cattle, repeating the process.

“Methane has no long-term impact on the climate when the emission and oxidation are in balance,” Wilkinson told members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety.

In an interview following his testimony, Wilkinson said there were a third more cows in the 1970s than there are today.

“With that reduction of our cow herd by a third, we’re producing as much beef as we did in the 1970s,” Wilkinson told the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association following his testimony. “That certainly is changing our footprint on America in a positive way.”

The subcommittee heard testimony on reducing emissions while driving economic growth.