Farmers wanting to reduce their carbon footprint should take advantage of methane inhibitors in the diet of ruminant livestock, according to one of Victoria’s leading carbon farmers.
Cam Nicholson has outlined the effectiveness of three other practices for graziers who wish to take advantage of government-provided carbon calculators in readiness for future markets wanting lower emissions from their food sources.
Mr Nicholson has been a ‘carbon farmer’ since 1993 and urges farmers to download and use Greenhouse Accounting Framework calculators to audit their carbon use and find opportunities for emission reduction.
“Increasingly, supply chains need to be responsible for carbon reduction, so that (meat) processors can appease shareholders and customers with certified reduced emissions,” Mr Nicholson told Country News.
“And while it’s good for farmers to practice tree and soil sequestering, they need to know their own emissions to get carbon credits.”
Methane produced from ruminant livestock makes up about 10 per cent of Australia’s overall emissions.
Mr Nicholson said livestock had some ‘big ticket’ items that farmers could address, which included diet supplements to reduce methane production.
Research from Brazil published 11 months ago claimed that tannins added to feed (as four per cent of its dry matter) caused a significant drop in methane produced in the gut of ruminant animals.
Mr Nicholson said the reduction in emitted gas could be between 10 and 15 per cent.
“Adding oils to their diet can reduce methane by around 20 per cent,” he said.
Another strategy for farmers is the use of more targeted methane inhibitors, that include genetically modified bacteria and the seaweed Asparagopsis which produces an effective bioactive compound.
An agent produced by Bovaer called 3-NOP is effective at reducing emissions in dairy cows by up to 35 per cent and beef cattle by 40 per cent.
3-NOP is also used for sheep, although Mr Nicholson said the product needed to stay in the animal’s diet for its entire life.
“However, if you give it to young sheep, it makes an early imprint of the gut which stays with the lamb for its whole five-month lifespan,” Mr Nicholson said.
Future research includes using a vaccine against methane-producing bacteria in sheep.
Wanalta sheep farmer Will Pepperell said the feed additives were workable for feedlots, but were a ‘different story’ for grazing stock.
“If you need to yard-rear sheep to get an additive in early, well only feedlots are yard rearing sheep,” Mr Pepperell said.
“The supplements only work in feedlots, unless you’re bringing your sheep in every day.
“Dairy is a different story, where farmers are bringing them in every day or beef cattle maybe once a month.”
Mr Pepperell said his only option would be to add products such as 3-NOP or algae compounds to regular hay feeding.
“I can’t see it working for a commercial operation unless you’re already doing something regularly so you can add to it.
“It would be a better as a drench, but even then you’ve got to have the time and labour to bring them all in.”
Mr Pepperell said the options of reducing carbon use along supply chains still needed development for his full consideration.
A concern he had was a saturated market of graziers with reduced carbon and a recognised premium product.
“If we all try and work it, then not everyone is going to get that 10 per cent (premium),” he said.
“It has to be financially beneficial to change what I am doing.”
Mr Nicholson said graziers could take advantage of management methods and the GAF calculators to reduce methane production, but feedlots remained at an advantage.
“They have got the luxury of precision feeding to nail this,” he said.
Carbon calculators for 16 agriculture commodities are available at https://www.piccc.org.au/resources/Tools