Donald Scully walks among the cattle on his dairy farm in Ballyheyland, County Laois.
Rory Carroll – The Guardian Aug 30, 2022
Donald Scully gazes at his herd of 208 cows munching grass and clover in a verdant field, as a light breeze ruffles the stillness.
“There is an enjoyment for me to come out and look and see how healthy and happy these cows are,” says Scully, 47, a third-generation dairy farmer. “Every single cow has her own personality, they’re all individuals.”
The pastoral scene in Ballyheyland, a landscape of rolling hills in County Laois, is replicated across rural Ireland. Ireland has 7.3 million cattle, substantially outnumbering humans, and a long history with the animal stretching into myth, including the Cattle Raid of Cooley, an epic tale considered the Irish Iliad. Agriculture dominated the economy well into the 20th century and moulded a vision of Ireland that still enchants visitors.
Cows, however, now symbolise something else: a climate crisis quandary.
Instead of cutting emissions, Ireland has continued increasing them and the biggest contributor is agriculture. Ireland’s 135,000 farms produce 37.5% of national emissions, the highest proportion in the European Union, and most of that comes from methane associated with belching by ruminant animals.
Under a new government plan, agriculture must reduce emissions by 25% by 2030. Other sectors face even higher targets – transport must reduce emissions by 50%, commercial and public buildings by 40% – but the loudest protests have come from farmers.
Cutting emissions by a quarter will drive many farms into bankruptcy and could force the culling of hundreds of thousands of cows, they say. “The mood is hugely frustrated,” said Pat McCormack, head of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association. “It’s very hard to quantify but there will be increased costs and reduced output.”
Farmers and their allies have accused the coalition government, which includes the Green party, of scapegoating rural Ireland and leaving farmers little option but to cull herds. So far there have been no Dutch-style protests.
Until recently, the government had encouraged dairy farmers to expand to exploit the end of EU milk quotas. Farmers invested in new equipment and the dairy herd grew by almost half in the past decade. Irish butter, cheese and other produce – 90% is exported – filled supermarket shelves around the world.
“All the talk was of what dairy could deliver for the economy and society and we did that in spades. Now it’s the bad boy,” said McCormack.
The work is 24/7, Scully says. “You have to love it otherwise you wouldn’t do it.” He hopes his teenage son will become the fourth generation Scully to raise cows but says climate targets could imperil the farm’s future.
“It’s all happening so quickly, and they’re looking for results so fast. Sometimes you would be better moving slow and doing it right.” A way of life, he says, is at stake. “You don’t miss anything until it’s gone.”
Farmers hope that proposed changes in calculating methane emissions, greater efficiencies, new technologies, and other measures could avert the need to reduce herds.
“The cows belch, the atmosphere heats up, the ice caps melt, the sea levels rise, and everyone in the world drowns, so kill all your cows mister, it’s nothing to do with us sacrificing animals to our gods or ending Whitey’s food supply”
Well this should have a happy ending. Here in Ireland we are getting several thousand ( no exaggeration ) “new oirish” flown in courtesy of Ethiopia Air every week. They even have their own isolated terminal at Dublin Airport and are shipped around the country at night. I guess the politico traitors will feed them insects as they busily house, clothe and “educate” them LOL – all within 2030 “climate change” guidelines of course!
And the Christianized white masses meekly submit to the deranged decrees of their Jewish-Communist Overlords, who concocted this methane/carbon emission scam as a pretext to institute a techno-Communist slave society. But hey, you fought for Communism in WWII, so now you get to live in a Communist dystopia too…lol
Where is the credible scientific evidence that cow farts are contributing to anything adverse? There is none. It is about driving people off of the land and killing off small farms. It is about destruction of the so-called “old order” as Makow says, and it is about the money-power monsters and our arrogant, autocratic, control-freak governments running things to make the entire earth nothing but a prison. There is only one solution and it is not through the rigged system of voting. That is finished for anyone who is awake and wants to be free. The people simply must rise up and take back control of their governments, or if they cannot do that then they can at least organize massive protests and strikes.
Black on White has it exactly right in his comment above.
“Cows, however, now symbolise something else: a climate crisis quandary.” .. Insanity. Anybody who believes that steaming bullshit should be laughed out of the room, and anyone trying to enforce such quackery should be literally beaten into the ground.
This vicious lie is clearly yet another prong of the full-spectrum war on whitey being waged by the predator class in their quest for dominance, complete control, our impoverishment, and, ultimately, our annihilation.
Donald Scully is a stout fellow and would be best served by seeking out the closest politician or bureaucrat advocating for Scully’s destruction and crush their throats with his bare hands. We the People had better take a hands-on approach to taking some control back from the maniacal predators or we are already as good as dead.
A nice cup of peppermint tea can help to relieve prolific flatulence. Certain yoga postures alleviate bloating and can quieten voluminous gas production. I’m not actually sure if cows do yoga, though. I’m pretty sure they do.
Nico X–Christianity has collapsed in Ireland. As Christians they might have been seen keeping Moslems out. I heard an Irish radio presenter say “Dey killed it!”, meaning the Church, in very few years
Too bad we are so gullible and just do as we are told by those that have no clue and or the most part want to see us dead. It appears ‘they’ have schooled, drugged and medicated us into zombies afraid of everything.