How can biochar in livestock feed reduce methane emissions

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farming and agriculture is an important

part of the cheshire economy

as well as the larger uk economy

dairy is an important part of that

in cheshire there are about 450 dairy

cows

which represents about 10 of the uk

dairy herd dairy is a significant part

of the operations of agricultural

businesses in the county

and as for the wider uk economy as well

society is increasingly interested in

alternatives to

dairy and to meat and interest becoming

increasingly interested in vegetarianism

veganism and the source and the

husbandry of their food

this has important consequences for the

uk agricultural sector

and how farmers respond to these

challenges is going to be of real

consequence to them

over the next 10 years cows such as

these that we have at reese heath

produce a lot of methane

which is normally belched from the cow’s

body they also produce a lot of slurry

slurry is an important nutrient and

fertilizer

which is spread back onto the land but

that in itself causes environmental

problems

for water courses and for green other

greenhouse gas emissions

the national farmers union has committed

itself to reducing

to net zero by 2040 greenhouse gas

emissions

and cows and cattle operations and

reducing methane from those

is an important part of achieving this

strategy

the work we’re trying to do at reese

heath is part of that story

at reese heath we’re looking at the

effects of feeding biochar

as part of the feed ration this material

that the cows are busy chomping away at

to try and reduce methane emissions from

the cows biochar is a

substance produced by the gasification

or pyrolysis

of biomass material usually something

like wood

but bracken and other biomass materials

woody materials have been used to

produce biochar

the biochar is crumbed and fed as part

of the

mixed with the ration and fed as part of

the feed to the cows

on a daily basis the biomass

is heated to about a thousand degrees

celsius

and that drives off the volatile

materials within the butter char

and in the absence of oxygen carbon

nearly pure carbon and minerals are all

that remain

most of us know biochar as charcoal

but to some it’s a black gold it’s got

some really interesting properties

the process of making biochar means that

it’s

full of micro pores which gives it a

massive

internal surface area for example 25

grams an

ounce of biochar has a surface

area the equivalent to a football pitch

the size of wembley

this micro porosity gives an ideal

environment

in which bacterial communities can

thrive

some work by colleagues at other

universities have shown that by feeding

biochar to cattle can reduce methane

emissions by between six

and fifteen percent reducing six to

fifteen percent of the methane that’s

belched by a cow is a

significant contribution to greenhouse

gas emissions

so the work we’re doing at reese heath

is taking as red

that the methane emissions are reduced

but what else is going to happen to the

cows if they are fed biochar

over a long term so our work is by

mixing with the feed that we’ve got here

and here that the cows are busy eating

mixing biochar with that and then

looking at how the performance of the

cow

varies by those that are being fed by a

chair

compared to those that aren’t receiving

biochar

so the work that’s been done at the

other universities to show that biochar

has an

impact by putting cows into bio chambers

for two or three days and measuring

everything that is going into the cow

and everything that’s coming out of the

cow and by doing that

the estimates of between six and fifteen

percent have been established

the work we’re doing at feet at reese

heath is feeding

our high yielding cows and some of our

calves with biochar

what we’re looking with the cows is how

the milk yield

and the milk quality is affected by

feeding

the cows with biochar it works on the

basis that a cow with a

more healthy gut is more efficient

so if we look at the yield of the cow

the milk yield of the cow

compared with those that are not fed

biochar do we get

more milk for the same input or can we

get the same amount of milk

for a lower input of food this obviously

has

improvements for the efficiency of the

farming enterprise

as well as improving or increasing the

yield of the cow

we’re measuring the quality of the milk

so we’re looking at butter fat we’re

looking at protein

we’re looking at back to scan and

somatic cell count

the bacterial activity within the milk

and seeing if that is improved

if it is that means that the farmer may

receive

a higher income for the every litre of

milk that is sold

the way we’re going to do this is that

some of our cows are going to be moved

on to our robotic milking system

which comes into operation in a short

while

there we’re going to be feeding them and

measuring accurately

all of the inputs and the outputs and

recording that data

and analyzing it over an extended period

of time

the thinking behind the increase in

yield is that the gut

the rumen of the cow is more efficient

if it’s more efficient then it could

well be that the cow is also

healthier a healthier cow will mean that

there are less interventions required

by the vets and also a lower input of

antibiotics and other medicines that the

cow might receive

this again a healthier cow will improve

the margin

and the operation of the farming

enterprise

as well as that we’re looking at the

happiness of a cow

some farmers who have been feeding their

cows with biochar

report that their cows are happier

nobody really understands how they’re

happier

and what metrics have been established

to make a happy cat

but working with colleagues from

university of chester we’re trying to

establish some metrics

which can show that cows indeed are

happier

possibly they’re smiling more but

actually they’re better

than those that aren’t fed biochar and

again this is helping to improve the

efficiency

and the operation of the farming

enterprise

we’ve now moved inside one of our

carving sheds

at reese heath we have about 200 calves

born

every year what we’re going to do is to

trial

feeding some of these lovely beauties

with biochar

and track them throughout their life in

the receipt herd

as they move from carving they’ll go out

to their carve pens

they’ll go out onto pasture and then

when they have their first carbs they’ll

be brought in

and be part of the reese’s third by

feeding biochar we think that we might

be able to track some long-term benefits

and long-term gains from feeding the

carbs biochar

so that’s it for what we do with feeding

the feeding trials of biochar we’re also

doing some work

around using biochar

that’s come out of the cow through the

slurry and what can we do with the

slurry

so that’s a summary of the work that

we’re doing at reese heath on feeding

trials

biochar is an inert material and

eventually passes straight through the

cow

as it’s gone through the cow’s stomach

the micro porosity

has become full of bacteria those

bacteria can be very

beneficial to soil health so with that

slurry that we’ve got from the cows

we’re undertaking a series of trials to

look at how that slurry

is better or is different in the way it

performs when it’s applied to land

we’re looking at indicators such as the

soil health

so how much bacterial activity is

supported

in soil that has been spread with

biochar enriched slurry compared with

normal slurry or no slurry and then

we’re also doing worm counts as well

as well as the soil health we’re looking

at can

slurry that has been enriched with

biochar

improve the way the soil holds water

this could have important impacts and

benefits for

communities at risk of flooding and then

finally we’re looking at the possibility

of that biochar that inert material

sequestering carbon and locking it up

into the soil and this will have

important benefits for the uk’s economy

and our global greenhouse gas mitigation

targets

the evidence space that we’re putting

together at reese heath

for the from the feeding trials and from

the slurry work

could have important consequences for

farmers with the new

agri-environment scheme that uk

government is planning to introduce

in 2023 the environment land

management scheme is intended to pay

farmers public money

for the delivery of public goods and

biochar could be part of that story

we don’t know and that’s why we’re doing

the research here

as well as working with farmers we’re

working with

suppliers involved in the whole value

chain right from feed merchants

through to the large supermarkets and

dairy operations

all of which are interested in reducing

their carbon footprint

and improving their environmental

sustainability

and the work that we’re doing here

contributes to that

it also helps our students understand

the importance of environmental and

sustainability

agenda and makes them ready to work in

industry and commerce biochar

is an important asset and it could be an

important part of the uk agricultural

sector

in the future