Hoofprint Biome boosts cow nutrition while slashing methane burps

Sometimes, answering a long-standing problem is a matter of finding a new perspective. Take methane from cows: For years, people have been trying to eliminate the gas from cow burps in an attempt to limit the livestock’s impact on the climate. But they haven’t made a dent. That’s in part because they were looking at the issue from the perspective of a climate scientist, not a farmer. Kathryn Polkoff, co-founder and CEO of Hoofprint Biome, has been thinking about the problem more like a farmer, though. “The first time I heard about this methane problem was animal science 101,” Polkoff, who has a PhD in animal science, told TechCrunch. It wasn’t in the context of climate change, but of animal health and productivity. Polkoff and her co-founder Scott Collins have stumbled upon a novel way to modify a cow’s microbiome using enzymes, slashing methane while boosting the nutrients available to the cow. That discovery has netted Hoofprint a $15 million Series A round led by SOSV, the star ... Read full article.