Reducing Methane from the Cattle Industry with Genetics
Funded through the Biological Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Management Program in 2014, this project provided information on how current genetic improvement programs for beef cattle may impact cow and calf production under open-range grazing, as well as the associated profitability and emission reductions as a result. Increasing the efficiency of cow and calf production systems will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the beef industry in Alberta.
Cattle are significant producers of methane and the comparative impact of methane on climate change is more than 20 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. Completed in 2017, the objective of this project was to test whether beef cattle production efficiencies – identified by residual feed intake (RFI), or the difference between an animal’s actual vs expected feed intake, as well as genetic selection – are associated with cow/calf performance under open-range grazing production systems. Low RFI animals require less feed to reach marketable weight and breeding animals require less feed to produce a weaned calf; this in turn could reduce environmental impacts of beef production, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Results Justify Further Research
Ultimately, results from this study highlight the need to more fully understand how beef cattle selection programs can be catered to support the development of a profitable and environmentally sustainable beef production industry in Western Canada. While no statistically significant emissions in methane were detected between cattle with contrasting genetic markers for feed efficiency on pasture, the researchers identified trends that may justify examination of a much larger number of cattle over longer periods of time to more confidently detect differences in feed efficiency and associated GHG emissions. This study also reinforces other studies indicating cattle with low RFI in feedlots tend to produce more methane yield but similar overall methane production.
What’s next?
This project has set up a foundation to further explore the performance of current selection methods and the need for alternative approaches to optimize feed efficiency and RFI for extensively managed cow/calf producers grazing rangelands in Alberta. If further study is to occur, researchers need additional refinement of techniques to measure GHGs that will enable them to address key questions at the appropriate spatial and temporal scale.