There are lots of complications.
Yes, yes methane is better at absorbing light and radiating heat. But it decomposes. To CO2. Which was absorbed by the plant in the first place to give you the food to feed the cow which the cow then belched to make methane to turn to CO2 to be absorbed etc...

The carbon balances. Except the carbon that, of course, doesn't escape from the system and so reduces the concentration. A long term plan of cow breeding and eating over an infinite length of time can only, at worst, keep the amount of "carbon" in the whole system at a constant level so no matter what spurious models and statistics people produce, won't change anything.

Tell me something. If you don't feed the grass/pellets/whatever to cows, where do you think the carbon goes when the grass dies and decomposes?

Oh, and the CSIRO will be spending shit loads on that because science funding is driven by governments not scientists, governments are almost universally retards, and we scientific researchers like to keep our jobs. So, when the choice is "do you want some money to stop cows belching, or ... no money?" then it's "Come here skippy, we need to fiddle with your shit" ... it's cake or death.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:01, 1 reply)

That does slightly paper over the fact that the bulk of beef in the west is raised in massive feed lots
which consume vast quantities of grain which itself requires the extraction of vast quantities of fossil fuels. So cows can't directly increase the carbon from their bottoms, but the beef industry can certainly contribute greatly towards the increase of carbon from squashed dinosaurs.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:10, closed)

totally
but that's true of the whole mass produced food industry in general. If we grow our own veg and rear our own animals then cool, but then we can't live in massively urban conurbations and be tragically cool city dwellers and have stupid facial hair and Starbucks and wifi and that. Sad times, Shambles.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:16, closed)

it also doesn't explain how fucking up cows with kangaroo stomach bacteria
can possibly help in the slighest, really.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:18, closed)

WOOLLY JUMPERS
Wait ... hang on ... wrong ungulate.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 18:27, closed)

"rear our own animals"?
Pervert.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 20:20, closed)