It is estimated that cattle represent the 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions of the world. Above all, for the production of methane. A Canadian company is proposing an alternative to the industry, which will allow the breeding of cows genetically engineered to burp less methane. And, in this way, collaborate to stop climate change.
Semex, a genetic solutions and livestock inputs company, this year began marketing the first commercially available bull semen with a low methane genetic trait. They are already offering the product in nearly 80 countries. Among the first to receive it are a farm in Britain and several dairies in the United States and Slovakia, company vice president Drew Sloan told Reuters.
Ben Loewith, a dairy farmer from Canada, also received the product. In June, he began artificially inseminating 107 cows and heifers with Semex semen. The first pups will be born next year. “Selective breeding to reduce emissions, as long as we don’t sacrifice other traits, seems like an easy win,” Loewith said.
Belching is the main source of methane emissions from livestock. And methane is the second gas that has the greatest impact on the greenhouse effect, after carbon dioxide. Although less abundant methane has a heating power 80 times greater than carbon dioxide. For this reason, reducing its emissions is so important in the fight against climate change.
Semex told Reuters who estimate that their initiative could reduce methane emissions from Canadian dairy cattle by 1.5% per year. The benefit would be between 20% and 30% less by 2050.
The low methane genetic material is the result of a joint effort between Semex and Lactanet, Canada’s milk registration agency. Lactanet launched the world’s first national methane genomic assessment last April.
The analysis included 60% of Canada’s dairy farms. This review allowed producers to identify which cows could sire calves that are genetically conditioned to release less methane.
This record, in turn, was based on research from the Universities of Guelph and Alberta. A group of scientists from these institutions developed a method for measuring methane in dairy cattle over seven years. The researchers took samples of the cattle’s exhalations to measure the presence of methane. Then, they compared the results with the genetic information and the milk samples.
Christine Baes, a professor at the University of Guelph and a study participant, explained that methane emissions in dairy cows in Canada range from 250 to 750 grams per day. «We created almost a telephone directory to say: This animal has these genes and produces as much methaneBaes explained to Reuters.
But methane is only part of the problem. Livestock is also the cause of forest clearing in many parts of the world. In Brazil, for example, more than 800 million trees have been felled in the Amazon in the last six years to meet the global demand for Brazilian beef.