sandlion, I forgot to add, the equation that gives all livestock, primarily cattle, with regards to the CO2 emmisions, is that the means of calculating the carbon balance of such livestock enterprises does not allow the CO2 sequestered from the atmosphere either directly by the animal, or indirectly through the fodder it eats, to be used to offset the emissions. Given that carbon is continually being locked up in improved pasture systems that produces the feed consumed by the animal, and carbon is the basic building block of the animal itself, it seems logical that when the whole system is taken into account, then the real life situation is somewhat different to the ones being produced by the accountants. If animal numbers are increasing around the world, then more carbon is being locked up in the all the animals being produced than what is being released back into the atmosphere as carbon is released from the dead stock, in effect an ongoing growing, living carbon sink.
