The feed additive for calves that could cut methane emissions by 20%

Trials have gone so well the additive, developed by scientists in New Zealand, is expected to be on sale to farmers before 2025

The Kowbucha powder is blended into milk or milk replacer fed to calves. Early trials suggested these calves emit up to 20% less methane.

Scientists down under are getting excited about a natural additive fed to calves which will reduce their methane emissions by 20%. They have also found an additive which eliminates methane from slurry.

The additive fed to calves could be a valuable weapon for farmers around the world forced by national authorities to reduce the methane output from their herds, but the scientists in New Zealand who discovered it have yet to discover how long-lasting the emissions reduction effect is. 

However, trials have gone so well the additive is expected to be on sale to farmers before 2025.

It has been developed by New Zealand Milk Products (NZMP), the ingredients and solutions brand of Fonterra, the country's biggest dairy co-op, and one of the world's largest. 

They have named the product Kowbucha, a pun on Kombucha, the popular fermented drink with perceived health benefits for consumers.

Ongoing trials have shown promising results for Kowbucha, said Shalome Bassett, principal scientist at the Fonterra Research and Development Centre.

Putting it on sale before 2025 will be welcomed in New Zealand, where farmers are due to start paying a tax on their net emissions in 2025.

In trials, the Kowbucha powder is blended into milk or milk replacer fed to calves. Early trials suggested these calves emit up to 20% less methane. It could be an ideal solution for dairy farmers, given it is expected to have a lasting impact after being fed to calves.

Kowbucha emerged from Fonterra's extensive knowledge of dairy fermentation, and from its collection of 40,000 dairy cultures, developed over decades of innovation in cheeses, yoghurts, probiotics, and flavours. AgResearch Ltd, and the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium, also helped to develop Kowbucha, which is a completely natural product.

The Kowbucha project has also benefited from Fonterra developing a genome sequencing device, which means it no longer has to send DNA from potential probiotic strains overseas for sequencing.

With agricultural emissions accounting for about half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions, and agricultural products making up more than 75% of the country's goods exports, the industry has been under huge pressure to come up with emissions solutions.

But necessity is the mother of invention, and Fonterra and other organisations have come up with a number of promising breakthroughs, they hope will enable the country's dairy industry continue its vital economic role, without cow numbers having to be slashed for emissions reduction.

Farm slurry

A product called EcoPond that eradicates methane from farm slurry will soon come on the market. The Ravensdown Co-op and Lincoln University collaborated in the science behind EcoPond, another New Zealand product which may help farmers globally become sustainable.

It is based on adding controlled levels of iron sulphate (widely used in the treatment of drinking water) to slurry, which restricts methane-producing bacteria, without environmental downsides.

As well as reducing methane from a slurry tank as much as 99%, Ecopond reduces phosphate leaching from slurry as much as 90% (an important anti-pollution breakthrough), and E-coli bacteria as much as 99%. Slurry odour and emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulphide are significantly reduced.

Ecopond alone can reduce methane from New Zealand's dairy farms by about 5% (about one quarter of the reduction required by 2030). Late in 2023, farmers will be able to buy Ecopond units (which feed the additive into their slurry) for an expected price of about €26,000. The annual operating cost for a 400-cow herd will be about €6,000, at current iron sulphate prices.

However, the 2025 plan to charge farmers a tax for emissions may delay uptake of products like Ecopond, until the levy on methane forces their hand.

Sheep

Also in New Zealand, the AgResearch organisation has bred sheep which emit nearly 13% less methane than the highest emitters. At a national level, that could reduce the country's methane emissions as much as 1%.

And Fonterra has another sustainability trick up its sleeve, in its bid to be net zero for emissions by 2050. This year, it entered a new phase in its investigation of how seaweed can reduce farm emissions Since 2020, Asparagopsis seaweed as a supplement feed for dairy cows has been on trial.

This work is extending to more farms, and Fonterra has signed a new agreement with Sea Forest, allowing all Fonterra farmers globally to get first access to the Asparagopsis solution, if the trial proves successful and the product is ready.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian Government agency, found in its laboratory research that Asparagopsis can reduce emissions by more than 80%.

Asparagopsis is a common seaweed in the waters of Tasmania and New Zealand, and Sea Forest is first in the world to cultivate it at a commercial scale.

In the EU, the Bovaer feed additive product which reduces methane emissions from non-pasture-based cows by more than 30% has been approved for sale.

But down under, New Zealand leads the way towards pasture-based livestock sustainability.