Heat-Resistant Cows

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Heat-Resistant Cows

As the  planet warms, artificial insemination is gaining  ground among cattle  farmers grappling with the added heat  of climate change.
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In Nigeria, farmers are breeding a new  breed of cows that  can withstand tropical temperatures and produce more milk. To do  so, they're importing semen from the heat-resistant Girolando  bull breed from  Brazil, creating a strange  and coveted new  product. And as my colleague Emele Onu and I reported this week, things  are looking promising so far.  "I will do much better with the Girolando breed," Moyosore Rafiu, a 42-year-old farmer, said in an interview. "They will survive  better on our farms and  I can already see signs  of that in the calves  on this farm.  It will be a big  transformation."
Farmer Moyosore Rafiu  on his  farm in Iseyin, Nigeria.  
Rafiu is one of thousands of farmers across Nigeria  participating in a cross-breeding program overseen by the country's dairy producer, FrieslandCampina, to genetically improve  the animals. His  black and white cows  of European origin struggle with the intense sun and local diseases, while  native breeds  do not produce enough  milk. African cows  produce an average  of just a  few liters of milk  per day, compared with 30 liters in the  United States.
Heat-tolerant, more productive cows are key to efforts by governments,  businesses and aid organizations to increase the supply of animal protein  on a continent where the population is growing at  a very fast rate and hunger is  more widespread. While high-income  countries consume a lot of beef and other  animal products, poorer  countries, which suffer from high rates of  malnutrition, benefit from more meat and  milk in their  diets.
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It is hoped that  super-productive cows will not only improve food security, but also help curb climate change. More milk from fewer cows means  fewer mouths  of cows emitting methane. Although African cows  account for only 4% of global milk production, they contribute about a tenth of  the world's methane  emissions.
The idea is to create "sustainable intensification," said Mario Herrero, a professor of sustainable food systems and global change at Cornell University.
If you have two Girolando  cows instead of four local cows,  it will put "less pressure on resources," he said.  "That's how it  should be." »

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