NI's livestock slurry could have potential to meet up to 80% of North's gas requirements

The anaerobic digester at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Hillsborough, Co Down.

They’ve been getting a lot of rap in recent times for their emissions output, but slurry and litter from the North’s 1.7m cattle, 2m sheep, 716,800 pigs, and 24.5m poultry could help to lower the region’s carbon footprint.

The wide-scale anaerobic digestion and secondary processing of the North’s livestock slurry could have the potential to meet up to 80% of the region’s gas fuel needs, while also significantly lowering its carbon footprint, a new scientific study has found.