Measurement of the methane of output of individual cattle when housed and grazed.

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Dairy and beef cattle contribute approximately 7% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. To reach the UK governments target of net zero by 2050 this must be reduced. The main greenhouse gas produced by cattle is methane that is produced during the digestive process in the first stomach, or rumen of cattle and sheep, and then belched out. The capital equipment purchased in this bid will allow the output of exhaled gases such as methane to be accurately measured in the breath of cattle when housed or grazing pasture. This is important because current techniques are either very expensive, inaccurate, or do not allow methane to be measured when cows are grazing pasture or housed as a group. The equipment will be used to investigate dietary means to reduce methane production (e.g. the use of legumes forages such as clover, or oils), feed additives to reduce methane production (e.g. naturally occurring compounds such as saponins, tannins, essential oils, or synthetic compounds), grazing systems (e.g. mixed species swards), manipulation of the rumen microbiome to decrease the activity of methane producing bacteria, and evaluation of genetic differences in cattle to produce methane. The information will also be used to develop non-invasive methods to predict the methane output from cattle such as unique markers in milk.