Scientists have proven that today’s Canadian cattle herd produces less greenhouse gas than it did in 1981.
Agriculture Canada research scientist Tim McAllister, an expert in rumen microbiology, feed and nutrition, said the reduction is a result of improved animal performance and better feed, among other factors.
He and a research team estimated greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian beef cattle and compared 2011 with 1981 in terms of those emissions.
“To produce the same quantity of beef in Canada today as it took 30 years ago, it takes 27 percent fewer slaughter cattle to produce that same amount of beef and 29 percent fewer cattle are required in the breeding herd, so we can produce more meat from fewer cows,” McAllister told a beef supplements meeting in March.
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“It required 24 percent less land to produce that same amount of meat … and the overall carbon footprint was about 15 percent smaller today than it was in 1981.”
Methane, considered the most harmful greenhouse gas, is produced primarily from cattle forage diets. McAllister said his team’s research shows 80 percent of Canadian cattle production is founded in forages.
“If we’re going to mitigate methane, that’s the area that we’re going to have the greatest impact in, but it’s also the area that’s the most challenging in terms of developing mitigation strategies,” he said.
Improving forage quality and selecting and managing animals for improved production and reproduction are potential ways to do that.
McAllister said scientists’ next steps to improve beef production’s greenhouse gas record involves exploring water use and air quality and gauging the biodiversity protection it offers in terms of grassland preservation.
“Many of Canada’s most identified species at risk inhabit native grasslands. And of course, ruminants turn inedible forages into high quality protein,” he said.
“Beef producers obviously manage vast tracts of land where they protect the marginal lands from tillage and erosion. Tilling up the grasslands results in massive emissions of carbon.”
