Irish Examiner view: Toilet-training cows not a potty idea

Neutralising the harmful effects of that waste makes sense, even if farmers might initially baulk at the idea

Could toilet training cows counter the effects of their greenhouse-gas-producing urine?

There will be a few raised eyebrows at the news, outlined in scientific journal Current Biology, that German researchers have been toilet-training cows — with some success — to counter the effects of their greenhouse-gas-producing urine.

Dr Jan Langbein and his colleagues at Germany’s national institute for animal health say training cows to use a latrine means the animal’s nitrogen-rich urine could be collected before it is converted into environment-damaging compounds.