Potty Trained Cows are no Joke for the Climate

Nov 12, 2021

One small pee for cows, one giant leap for mankind. At least, that’s what a team of scientists in Dummerstorf, Germany, believe could be a potent solution for manmade climate change.

While grand experiments around the world are being tested to prevent disastrous global warming, including giant machines sucking up CO2 and large-scale seagrass restoration, the researchers from the University of Auckland and Germany’s Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN) say that potty training — or as they term it, “learned control of urinary reflexes” — is an “original and hitherto unrealized opportunity” in the fight against global warming.

During the study, the findings of which were published in the scientific journal Cell Biology in September, the team carried out potty training for 16 cows. A two-by-two-meter pen acted as a designated toilet. Each time one of the young calves entered the so-called “MooLoo” and urinated, within a minute they were given a reward: a hatch opened up to offer them a sweet, electrolyte liquid (the same system used for robotic milking). But if they urinated outside the MooLoo, they were given a mild punishment: a three-second squirt of cold water (any longer and the cows began to enjoy it). Their urine was then collected, treated and neutralized.

As the training progressed, the cows were moved further and further from the toilet, increasing the effort required. Diuretics were given to the cattle to get them to urinate more because of the limited time to run the experiments under ethics guidelines.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.