The high risk of death of cattle due to the low footprint of targeted medication hinders rural farmers from considering the adoption of better breeds that are profitable on their farms. They spread their risk by having many low-quality breeds that result in a high greenhouse footprint.

Though CO2 is more abundant and stays in our atmosphere longer, methane is more damaging. In fact, as a greenhouse gas, methane is 28 times more powerful than CO2 on a 100-year timescale and 80 times more powerful over 20 years.

A single cow produces between 154 to 264 pounds of methane gas per year. Not counting the emissions of any other livestock, 1.5 billion cattle, emit at least 231 billion pounds of methane into the atmosphere each year (Our World in Data).

Cross-bred cattle that can withstand the African climate can produce 15 litres of milk a day while the local breeds can hardly do 1 litre. You will need several local breeds to match the production of one cross-breed cattle.

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