Katie Starsmore and Ben Lahar join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give an insight into the Green Feed trial that is investigating feed additives that have the potential to reduce methane emissions from grass fed dairy cows.

Katie explains that the trial cows emitted 320g of methane daily on average across the last three weeks. Methane is produced by bugs in the rumen following digestion of feed. Higher digestibility feed (lower pre-grazing cover) results in lower emissions.

Ben reviews some additives that have been trialled in TMR systems which reported an 80% reduction in methane emissions over a 60-day period when supplemented with red seaweed additives. In the Teagasc experiments, trials continue to investigate additives in grass-based systems.

Additionally, Ben identifies scope to reduce methane emissions through improving genetic merit. Higher EBI dairy cows are more fertile and consequently have greater longevity and milk production. Each €10 increase in EBI results in a 1% reduction in emissions, a reduction which is cumulative and permanent.

For more information:

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/news/2019/new-research-.php

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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