Breeding environmentally friendly cows

Cattle. Cow, calf, heifer and oxen. Possibly the most controversial topic in the climate debate, it is often considered one of the food sources we must let go of in order to live more sustainably. But is it so black and white? Do we have to stop production of cattle to “save the world”? Doctoral fellow Kirsti Winnberg at the Faculty of Biosciences believes we should breed a more environmentally friendly cow instead.

Journalist: Sofie Bergset Janols
Photo: Simen Walbækken Tangen
Photo: Nathalie Genvieve Bjørneby

Unfairly stamped as a major polluter?
According to Winnberg, declaring cattle a major polluter is slightly unfair. She points to the advantages they have when it comes to resource usage and food security in a country like Norway. Only 3,5% of our area is agricultural land, and only half of this is suitable for cultivating anything other than grass. This is the thing about ruminants: they use grass as a food source. They are nourished by grass, and we are nourished by them.

A potential
Kirsti points to the fact that pollution from agriculture has been reduced by 5% by 1990 and mentions using a specific breed of cattle – the NRF - as a cause of this. The Norwegian Red Cattle is now the standard cow in Norge. It is bred with the goal of producing both milk and meat instead of either-or. Good health and fertility is also sought after. By having healthier cattle, one reaches a higher level of milk production as sick cows do not produce sellable milk. This breed therefore contributes to more effective use of resources. Kirsti calls this “unconscious breeding of climate friendly cattle”. The follow-up question is what the potential could be, assuming we consciously attempt to breed a more environmentally friendly cow?

In 2019, agriculture contributed to 8,8% of Norwegian pollution overall, where most of this was emissions of methane gas from ruminants (The Norwegian Environmental Agency 2020). To do something about this source of pollution is the main task of Kirstis project. This is through “selection for reduced methane gas emissions in NRF” she explains. Before we ask how, we must ask why.

The magic of the ruminant
Let us begin with a basic introduction to how the cow digests. “The magic behind a ruminant”, as Kirsti calls it, before she starts drawing and explaining for me. Let’s start with the basics: the cow has four bellies. The rumen, the reticulum, the omasum and the abomasum. It is the rumen that separates the cow from the human. In the rumen and the reticulum, a microbial fermentation process happens. The magical part of the ruminant is that it is not the cow itself doing this. The bacteria in the ruminant lives in symbiosis with the cow. The bacteria feeds itself by breaking down the cellulose in the grass into fatty acid, which is again used as energy by the cow. A biproduct of this is methane. What we can observe, says Kirsti, is an individual variation to how much methane is released.

Can we influence the emission of methane?
Yes. One way is by looking at what we feed them – feed concentrate leads to less methane emissions than roughage. We can also add various ingredients to reduce the emission. However, we cannot use feed concentrate, as ruminants have evolved to eat grass and are therefore dependent on a high enough amount of roughage to maintain digestion and health. Secondly, when one looks at resource usage – we have a lot of grass in Norway.

Another aspect are the cows genes. Some cows just genetically release less methane than others, even though they eat the same roughage, Kirsti explains. Her task is to investigate the heritability of this property and to find the answer to the relevant question. Is the heritability high or low? Is it possible to breed cattle that releases less methane? How do methane emissions relate to other processes? Does less methane emission in fact equate to less milk production, as some findings indicate? One challenge is that methane was not measured routinely before now. To answer these questions, Kirsti must do a lot of ground work.

Collection of data
Methane sensors, called GreenFeeders, are to be used on the 15 farms participating in the research project. As of now, they are used on 8 farms, amongst them, the Livestock Production Research Centre. The photographer and I was allowed a visit to the barn, and I was explained how measuring methane with the GreenFeeders works. The GreenFeeder is essentially a food-concentrate dispenser, and the cow is led there to eat. While it eats, it releases methane through breathing and burping. This is how emissions from every cow is measurable. Yes, it is actually a big “public misunderstanding that cows fart too much”, Kirsti points out. The methane emissions are “3% fart, and 97% burp”.

“Breeding is statistics”
Kirsti processes the data with a programming language called “R” - maybe known to those studying “STIN” and “STAT”? I personally recognize it as fellow inhabitants in my collective regularly despair over it. As Kirsti opens the program on her computer to show me, and all the numbers glare up at me, I can understand why. This is what she uses the majority of her time on; analysing data. It is basically this breeding consists of - “breeding is statistics”, she adds.

As of now she is working with programming and keeping the numbers in order. There are a lot of ways for things to get messy. A leak for example, stopped all measurements from a certain barn a whole day. Kirsti acknowledges that it can all be a little overwhelming. There is a lot on her mind until 2024, and since the beginning of the project four weeks ago she has been busy. And there is a lot of data. It is easy to forget that this about living creatures in a barn, and that the significance of this project is a more sustainable agriculture and food production. Not just in Norway, but globally.

Research from tiny Norway in a big world?
In 2014 and 2015 the Norwegian Red Cattle was the worlds most sold race (Geno 2018). International demand for a healthy and productive cow is high, which is in itself positive. Additionally, better animal welfare and effective resource usage. Kirsti enthusiastically talks about American research partners and interest in the project. The horizon for a positive result for the project is in other words great. Cool, cool.

Facts
Basic “agricultural jargon” for beginners

Food concentrate: “food for livestock developed to fulfill the animals nutritional needs and contains all the nutrition they need: carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.” Consists mostly of grain. (Landbruk 2017)
Roughage: “consists mostly of grass, but may also include other vegetables like straw, potatoes or turnip”. (Landbruk 2019). Can be eaten directly (grazing), or can be eaten later through conservation, mostly in the form of ensilage or hay.
Ensilage: “grass conserved by a anaerobic fermentation process”. Hayballs or siloes are ways to produce ensilage. (Landbruk 2019)
Hay: Dried grass. ‘Nuff said.