At 106 metres long and 30 metres wide and with room for up to 120 cows, the multi-million dollar build is the largest research facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Photo: Supplied
At 106 metres long and 30 metres wide and with room for up to 120 cows, the Livestock Improvement Corporation's new methane research barn is the largest facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The multi-million dollar build is the latest in several programmes the farmer co-operative is leading to help reduce methane emissions.
Lactating dairy cows emissions could be cut by up to 20 percent over the next 25 years as a result of the research, according to estimates.
What is methane and why is it such a challenge for agriculture?
Country Life spoke to LIC's senior scientist Dr Lorna McNaughton to learn more.
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Methane is produced by bugs in the rumen digesting plant matter. The rumen is the largest of the four-chambered stomach in ruminant animals like cows and sheep.
"Contrary to popular belief most of the methane is in the cows' breath," Dr McNaughton explained.
Though it has a shorter life than carbon dioxide, methane is "more potent".
The greenhouse gas accounts for more than 70 percent of New Zealand's agriculture emissions and 43 percent of New Zealand's total greenhouse gas emissions.
LIC senior scientist Dr Lorna McNaughton. Photo: Stephen Barker / Supplied
Since 2020, Dr McNaughton has been working to see if there is genetic variation in how much methane an animal produces, and if so, how that can be exploited to create "more climate-friendly cattle".
The work to date has largely focused on methane traits in bulls - all of LIC's Jersey, Holstein-Friesian and Holstein-Friesian-Jersey-cross bulls get measured.
"There's usually as much variation within a breed as between breeds."
The "early stage research" focused on measuring how much methane they emit.
"We have a nifty little machine called the green feed. It's like a giant fan on wheels and it's also got a big treat box on top of it."
Animals put their head in and their EID (Electronic Identification) tag is read - if they haven't eaten in a while, it will drop feed for them to eat and measure the amount of methane in their breath over a three to five minute period.
Animals are allowed to visit five times a day and the data is then collated and averaged.
"It's really important we measure the feed intake alongside methane because a lot of the variation in methane is just how much they eat. We want to make sure that by selecting for lower methane we're not selecting for animals that just don't eat very much and therefore could have negative impacts on productivity."
They've developed a "daughter population" of 400 heifers from these bulls, and have seen a difference in those from high- versus low-emitting bulls.
The Livestock Improvement Corporation, or LIC, opened its new Methane Research Barn in October. Photo: Supplied
Dr McNaughton said they hope to know by late 2026 if they can release a methane breeding value.
"It's looking very promising at this stage," she said.
The research is now shifting to see if a low emitting animal is also a highly productive animal and if it impacts fertility.
The new barn will help by allowing the team to measure methane emissions from milking cows.
"Genetics is a big numbers game so we need to start investigating how we can get cow measurements."
"Contrary to popular belief most of the methane is in the cows' breath," says senior scientist Dr Lorna McNaughton. Photo: Supplied
Earlier this month the government announced new, lower methane reduction targets of between 14 to 24 percent below the 2017 levels by 2050 - and dropped plans for a farmer emissions tax.
Dr McNaughton pointed to other tools being developed to help address methane emissions, including different feed types and commercial methane inhibitors.
"If genetics is an option it's nice for the farmers in that they're not having to make on-farm management changes. They're probably going to be enough of them coming down the pipeline for other challenges."
LIC has also been involved in work around breeding more heat-tolerant cows, after the "slick" mutation was discovered in a Caribbean-based beef breed named Senepol.
It gives cattle a short, sleek hair coat which significantly improves their heat tolerance.
"We know they're more heat tolerant. On hot days they're about half a degree to a degree cooler in terms of rumen temperature."
Dr McNaughton said the challenge was trying to bring in the Senepol's slick genes without bringing in the beef characteristics.
They hope to have slick genetics available for farmers in 2029.
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