Improving the sustainability of the beef industry
What are some nutritional and management strategies?
By Sara Place
Methane emissions from beef cattle have been a hot topic in recent years. Enteric methane, or the methane that is naturally emitted from cattle’s mouths, accounts for approximately 2% of greenhouse gas emissions according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Enteric methane is a natural byproduct of the microbial fermentation processes that happen in cattle’s large stomach compartment called the rumen. The microbes within cattle's rumens allow them to consume and thrive on feedstuffs that are inedible to people. Indeed, roughly 89% of what beef cattle eat in the U.S. is human inedible and beef cattle add protein and other nutrients to the food supply. All of this is possible because of their mutually beneficial relationship with microbes, but this relationship and upcycling ability of cattle does come at a cost: methane. Many companies, countries have set Net Zero targets which require both a reduction in carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
Because methane makes up 56% of beef’s carbon footprint, it is a large focus of Colorado State University’s AgNext research program. With our extensive capabilities at our Climate-Smart Research Facility which allow us to measure methane emissions from grazing cattle and cattle fed in confinement (Figure 1). The multi-disciplinary research team is able to investigate practical and scalable solutions to mitigate methane emissions, while paying careful attention to how any mitigation option will impact a cattle producer’s pocketbook. We classify our research in a few different ways:
Baseline Methane Emissions: We work to better understand baseline emissions, which means measuring methane emissions from cattle fed industry typical diets and with industry standard management practices.
Feed Additive Research: AgNext reseachers are focused on the impact of dietary changes and feed additives on methane emissions. For example, our preliminary data would demonstrate that as cattle move from grazing shortgrass prairie in the summer to consuming a high grain finishing diet in the fall, their methane emissions can decrease 30%.
Genetic selection: Finally, we are focused on better understanding if we can use genetic selection to decrease methane emissions as we have observed cattle with similar performance fed the same diet exhibit methane emissions differences up to 33%.
While we are excited about the new potential discoveries from the Climate Smart Research Facility to mitigate methane emissions in practical ways that add to profitability, we also must recognize the role that good management, cattle nutrition, and improved genetics and health has played in lowering methane emissions from the US cattle industry already. Ultimately, the improvements in production efficiency driven by US cattle producers have led to substantial avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions while producing more food for more people.
For example, in the U.S., the number of beef cattle declined 39 million head in 2022 compared to 1975, and yet, beef production was 18% higher in 2022. This decoupling of beef production from cattle inventory was possible through the improvements in genetics, nutrition and management made by U.S. cattle producers. Reducing the number of cattle required to produce high quality nutrition for people lowers greenhouse gas emissions, water use and land requirements for every serving of beef consumed. We can see how effective this improvement in efficiency is when considering a situation of stagnant efficiency since 1975 compared to what U.S. cattle producers were able to achieve. As demonstrated in Figure 2, without improvements in efficiency, millions more cattle would be required to produce beef in the U.S., with 64 million more cattle needed in 2022.
Consequently, while new technologies, such as feed additives, are important for mitigating methane emissions, we must continue to focus on how to maintain and build upon productivity gains with our scientific research. Efficiency matters for both reducing methane emissions and economic viability.
Place is a feedlot systems specialist, with AgNext, Colorado State University.
