Meristem: Beef Science

A new report offers an overview of cross-country demonstration and learning initiatives regarding greenhouse gas emissions in the beef cattle industry. The Report to the Cattle Industry is available online at the Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA) Web site at www.cattle.ca. (Click CCA, Environment and Stewardship button.)

The eight-page report focuses on the recently-completed Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program (GHGMP) for Canadian Agriculture. The five-year GHGMP program was part of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) Action Plan 2000 on Climate Change. The CCA administered funds in the livestock sector.

The objective of the GHGMP was to increase awareness and encourage adoption of agricultural management practices that decrease the emissions of GHGs on farms and ranches or increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. In many cases, these practices also drive production efficiencies that can improve the profitability of an operation, says Pat Walker, beef project co-ordinator for GHGMP.

"Reducing GHG emissions in the cattle sector is challenging because there are few practical means to reduce the absolute amount of methane emissions from the industry's biggest source, the rumen of cattle," says Walker.

"The goal, then, was to focus on management practices that can help producers grow more pounds of beef while minimizing the losses of two vital, but sometimes expensive inputs: carbon and nitrogen. In the cattle business, greenhouse gas emissions are basically losses of these two key elements. And producers would rather see them being used to make meat, milk and forage rather than being lost to the air as gases."

The program had two primary goals, says Walker: to provide cattle producers with practical, useful information, and to give them the opportunity to share their views at conferences and tours and learn first-hand from other producers.

"This allowed producers and their organizations to take ownership of the program in their areas and deal with important production issues while increasing their understanding of how management impacts GHG emissions," she says.

"We wanted the GHGMP program to demonstrate that beneficial management practices which reduce greenhouse gases are important to both the environmental and economic sustainability of the industry. The economic argument is the strongest one we can make to cattle producers considering adopting these management practices."

The Report to the Cattle Industry draws from the five-year GHGMP effort by offering producers some of the latest knowledge in areas such as improving feed use efficiency; improving the quality of pasture, rangeland, health and productivity; special feed additives and forage species; and managing manure to reduce nutrient loss.

"The report serves as both an accountability document of the many projects conducted under the program as well as a tool for producer knowledge," says Walker.

In addition to its availability for download at www.cattle.ca, Report to the Cattle Industry will appear as a special supplement in the May 2006 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine. Further information on the GHGMP beef sector is also available on the Web site.

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Report summarizes greenhouse gas program for Canadian cattle producers