Sustainability was a big theme at the national British cattle vets (BCVA) conference in October and I know this is a topic that your milk processors are all engaging with.
There was a very slick presentation on the novel cattle feed additive “Bovaer” (3-Nitrooxypropanol) which has a claim to reduce methane production by around 30% in dairy cows and over 40% in feedlot cattle. Examples were shown in the talk demonstrating the effect of how feeding it to one cow would save the equivalent of 127,000 mobile phone charges, and feeding it to three cows is like removing a family car off the road! You can see how this type of product will resonate with the general public.
Whilst this may seem like an easy win (if no doubt expensive) for milk companies wanting to reduce their producer’s emissions, the big take home message for me was that the biggest emission reductions were to be gained from increasing efficiency, controlling disease and using the right genetics.
Efficiency could be described as the net result of good farming practices, based on sound veterinary advice and good management practices, to maximise outputs and minimise losses on you farm. Efficiency is an area our vets can have a big impact with on farm. This includes reproductive advice and interventions to optimise milk output, working on management strategies to minimise transition health problems, down to youngstock management and growth rate optimisation.
Diseases of all types, infectious and management related, have huge negative impacts on efficiency. As the level of a disease rises, the efficiency of that animal reduces and relative emissions per head rise. Different diseases have different degrees of impact on the animal affected. Examples include – sole ulcers have a big impact on an individual and result in an cow being 33% less efficient; digital dermatitis has a lower individual impact making a cow 4% less efficient, but given the high incidence of digital dermatitis in some herds it will severely impact the overall herd level efficiency.
It is estimated that a 17% reduction in emissions is possible with genetics alone. Getting good breeding advice is critical to maintaining good efficiency. Massive genetic improvements in efficiency have occurred in the last decade by simply improving fertility in dairy cows. The use of genomics, and selection for low maintenance cost or high feed efficiency, is continuing to drive up the efficiency of the dairy cow. With genetic traits now identified for genetically lower methane output, sire selection will be increasingly critical.
There are lots of practical, basic measures to improve efficiency and reduce emissions on your farms that don’t involve a magic “white bag”. All of our vets have an interest in sustainability and improving efficiency, so please engage with your routine vet to get advice on how they can work with you to help you achieve your goals.
Synergy Vet Diaries
October 7, 2026
EAST Autumn has seen a steady increase in workload on East. We’ve been PD’ing our spring block herds – results have been generally good considering
