Source : Dairy UK

• Dairy co-operative First Milk is working with its Welsh (Wales) members and animal nutritionists at Keenan Rumans to develop a diet that will boost milk production and cut methane emissions.
• Optimising forage fibre helps the animals to chew more and convert their feed into energy more efficiently. Health improvements have also been noted, especially around calving time.
• Early evidence shows that the new diet raised yields by up to four litres of milk per cow per day (around 15%), and cut methane emissions by more than 20% per litre.

Dairy co-operative First Milk is just one of many milk buyers tackling the methane issue. The co-op is working with its Welsh members and animal nutritionists at Keenan Rumans to develop a diet that will boost milk production and cut methane emissions.

Optimising forage fibre helps the animals to chew more and convert their feed into energy more efficiently. Health improvements have also been noted, especially around calving time.

Early evidence shows that the new diet raised yields by up to four litres of milk per cow per day (around 15%), and cut methane emissions by more than 20% per litre. For each million litres of milk produced, that saves 6 tonnes of methane, equivalent to removing some 1.6 million tonnes of CO² from the atmosphere if applied to the UK’s entire milk output.