Does cow urine pollute the environment?

Answer 1

No and yes. Urine contains nitrates and other minerals that contribute to the health of the plant community the cow grazes on. Nitrates incorporated into the soil completes the ever-important nitrogen-cycle of all natural habitats, even the in the pasture the cows are set to graze on. Therefore it is an important fertilizer for soil and the plants that grow there.

However in some environments where there are large concrete floored enclosures that have troughs to drain the urine away to open pits or streams or drylots that are more subject to water and soil erosion (as well as nutrient erosion), if it gets into waterways, it can adversely affect the wildlife, plants and other animals including humans that use the waterways as sources for drinking from. Excess nitrogen in riparian and wetland habitats contribute to higher populations of algae, which tend to use up more space in the wetlands than normal, reduce water and wetland species populations, and instead turn the water into a poisonous, dead bog instead of a clean, clear vibrant habitat.

Answer 2

It should be said that, even though the manure and effluence from belching and flatulence that cattle produce contribute to air pollution (like the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide), as well as the processes involved in the decomposition of their bodies, cows have a less substantial and significant impact on polluting the environment than humans do. A human tends to have a much larger footprint than a cow will ever have because of this: the addiction to oil and gas, lack of common sense and respect for the environment, and knowingly and wantonly producing waste on such a scale that even Mother Nature does not have the means to be rid of it as it could be with other plants and animals in the natural world.

In addition, the pollution that cows produce isn't the cows' fault at all. It's the way they are managed that causes such pollution, and humans are the only beings that are available on earth to manage such livestock. CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) are the blame for causing such pollution. The chickens, cattle and pigs didn't choose to live on such intensive operations, the people who care and manage for them did and still do.

It really doesn't matter if cattle fed a high-concentrate diet produce less methane than those on grass, it's what happens to the manure that has the greatest cause for concern when referring to pollution of the environment. The massive amounts of manure that is produced and removed from the barns and corrals emit huge amounts of CO2 and methane. More carbon and methane is emitted from such operations than from grazing cattle, mostly because these gases have nowhere else to go but up into the atmosphere. And the wastes also cannot be brought back into the ground again because there is nothing there to bring them back into the ground again. Instead these wastes run down to the nearest water source and pollute the water.

None of this occurs when managing cattle on an extensive operation, and when cattle are managed in such a way that they actually promote a healthy environment, not an unhealthy one. This means proper grazing practices to avoid overgrazing, limiting or prohibiting cattle access to sensitive riparian and wetland areas, selecting cattle that are better able to handle a grass-only diet, and grazing in such a way that it benefits the grass and the natural water, nitrogen and carbon cycles. Manure (including urine and feces) from cattle that graze has far less cause for concern because that manure is quickly broken down and used by the plants that grow there. Plants also take carbon from the atmosphere (from both the carbon emitted from the wastes excreted by cattle and from decomposing matter) and put it back into the soil in the roots. In exchange, oxygen is released.

It is true that 80% of what goes into a cow comes out the other end, but this is Nature's way of being able to put something back into the natural environment that was taken in by the cow. Plants require nutrients to grow, and those nutrients can only come from those animals that eat them. A healthy system requires no inputs from humans to help that environment to thrive. As such, a healthy, well-managed pasture requires very little to no man-made fertilizer to aid in the growth of plants when cattle are grazed on there. This is, of course, the exact opposite when we are talking about fields of corn and wheat that are grown for human consumption or for livestock feed.

Thus, it should be said that even though cows have some part of polluting the environment, thankfully they do not have the largest piece of that pie.