— Pasture-based management, including conversion of a non-pasture dairy or livestock operation to pasture- based management and/or increasing the amount of time livestock spend at pasture at an existing pasture operation. However, there are many reasons why this is impractical and creates a whole host of problems for modern, intensive dairies. Enteric methane Feed additives: There has been a lot of research and development of feed additives that can be easily mixed into total mixed rations (TMRs) to reduce enteric methane emissions. Decreasing enteric methane can have a sizable impact on decreasing the environmental footprint of milk production and meeting state regulations like California’s Short Lived Climate Pollutant strategy 6 requiring the dairy sector to decrease methane emissions 40 percent from 2013 levels by 2030. In addition, the U.S. is leading a multination effort called the Global Methane Pledge 7 which commits the U.S. to taking voluntary actions to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. Newtrient, in collaboration with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, has reviewed emerging research and provided the following guidance for U.S. dairies on feed additive types (see Table 1). At the recent (November 16-17, 2022) Sustainable Ag Summit in Glendale, Arizona, DMI previewed an evaluation tool to help farmers decide which feed additive, if any, they should use. This useful and practical tool is focused on assigning points to the important decision factors of safety, efficacy, trade-offs, and benefits. This tool is not yet publicly available but is expected to be available in early 2023. The obvious questions dairy farmers have include: how well does the additive work, how much does it cost per cow/day, and is there any payback in terms of production efficiency?
Increasingly, dairy retailers like Nestle are working with dairy farms in their supply chain to provide a feed additive like Agolin so that Nestle can claim GHG emission reductions. USDA is also working with FDA to determine how to streamline the approval of additional additives for use by U.S. dairies.
TABLE 1
Can I use _________ to reduce enteric methane from dairy cows in the United States today? ADDITIVE REPLY MAIN REASON/CONSIDERATIONS
Not available in commercial quantities. Conditions of use not yet established. Unknown animal, food, and environmental safety risks. Known risks on animal nutrition above maximum inclusion level. Limited mitigation in diets with high lipid content. Usually requires diet reformulation. Not registered. The manufacturer is pursuing approval through the New Animal Drug Application (NADA) process requiring Food and Drug Administration (FDA review. Known risks on animal nutrition and health with increasing intake to achieve effective mitigation doses. Condition of use not clearly established. Requires diet reformulation. Low confidence (wide range) on expected mitigation response. Known risk on animal health with increasing intake from water, forages, and the additive to achieve effective doses. Risk of overfeeding can lead to animal death. Low confidence on expected mitigation response due to limited evidence on mode of action and efficacy.
Seaweed
No
Lipids
Yes
3NOP
No
Tannis
Yes
Nitrate
Yes
Agolin
Yes
Other potential solutions being researched: Vaccines: In 2018, the genome sequencing of rumen methanogens was completed, and this could lead to the development of vaccines that would decrease methanogens. Pasture-based systems have been the target of vaccine research because feed additives don’t work for grazing cattle. Current research in New Zealand has successfully generated antibodies studies in cows, but changes in the rumen have been minimal. 8
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