List Of How Much Carbon Do Cows Eat References. On average, eating plants has a smaller footprint than eating animals, said friederike ziegler, who studies sustainable seafood at the research institutes of sweden, in gothenburg. Equipment inside a nearby trailer spits out data.

Cows produce about 20 percent of the methane gas generated per year, according to penn state university. A cow does on overage release between 70 and 120 kg of methane per year. Microbial activity in the cow’s digestive system creates co2 and methane, most of which is burped out (some exhaled and farted) carbon may be.