It’s now 2025 and following intense rhetoric from governments, dairy farmers accept and understand they have key roles to play in reducing emissions produced by their herds. In fact, they’ve always accepted cows produce methane and that it can be harmful to the environment. And farmers know there are a number of management decisions they can take to help reduce greenhouse-gas production from livestock.
As the payload of science intensifies, and new research becomes available, dairy farmers are willing to embrace the new knowledge and implement it on their farms. Their only hope is that other industries, outside of agriculture, also realize, admit and accept that they, too, have major responsibilities in helping countries reach their net-zero targets.
Management decisions first steps
Tinkering with feed, both in concentrate form and grass, can help reduce the overall amounts of gases being produced by cows. Cows produce methane when the feed they consume is digested in their gastrointestinal tract; it’s also produced from manure.