“Farmers so far are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.

“This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do,” said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal.

It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and “all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them.”

Sparks said Wednesday he’s worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_bi_ge/farm_scene_cow_tax_2

Now it expands to the UK.

No more beef if Britain hopes to cut carbon emissions
ROAST beef and diary products may have to disappear from the British diet if the country is to meet its pledge to cut carbon emissions by 80%, a government report has warned.

It found that the greenhouse gases generated by agriculture, and especially by Britain’s 10.5m cows, will seriously undermine any attempt to meet the targets.

The report, from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, warns that farming generates greenhouse gases equivalent to 65m tonnes of CO2 a year.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5323615.ece

And the sad thing is, the reduction will make no difference in how the climate acts over the next million years.

It bad when no meet