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Short abstract:

How is the movement and metamorphosis of matter is governed through, with, and in bovine bodies? How are bovine metabolisms problematised and governed in relation to different cycles and scales, namely, the 'global' carbon cycle, the 'local' nitrogen cycle, and the 'individual' reproductive cycle?

Long abstract:

New advances in science and technology are now making it possible to govern material flows and alterations within finer precision at a range of scales, which could fundamentally alter both individual and collective existence. In this paper, we focus on cattle within a range of environmental crises to unpack how the movement and metamorphosis of matter is governed through, with, and in bovine bodies. We ask: how are bovine metabolisms problematised and governed in relation to different cycles and scales, namely, the 'global' carbon cycle, the 'local' nitrogen cycle, and the 'individual' reproductive cycle? And, how are these three bovine cycles enacted through forms of bovine governance? In an epoch defined by environmental risk and planetary thought, cows are positioned as climatic actors, whereby technofix solutions to methane emissions are presented at the bodily scale to intervene in the climate-at-large. In the Netherlands context, cattle farming increasingly scrutinised for its pollution impact on the nitrogen cycle. At the same time, bovine bodies circulate as a range of protein—dairy and meat—products, and gametes are traded openly in husbandry markets, aided by genomic infrastructures. We invoke metabopolitics as a conceptual tool to question how such material flows are governed across these geographical scales, and to question how this mode of biopower fundamentally creates opportunities and challenges for life across more-than-human assemblages. Metabopolitics applies to situations in which molecular flows and circulations of materials are subject to measurement, calculation, intervention, and modulation that carry consequences extending beyond bodies and across scales.