The birth of a calf through in vitro fertilization, created to produce less methane, could help British farmers and cattle producers towards the “net zero” goal.
The calf, named Hilda, is part of a project called Cool Cows, which aims to breed cattle that produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
Rob Simmons, from Paragon Veterinary Group, another partner in the project, said: “Genetically improving methane efficiency will be key to continuing to provide nutritious food to the public, while controlling the impact of methane emissions on the environment in the future.”
Hilda is the first cow from the Langhill herd, based in Dumfries and used in the project, to be born through in vitro fertilization.
The technique, which involved fertilizing Hilda’s mother’s eggs in a laboratory run by Scotland’s RUral College (SRUC), allowed the next generation of the herd to be born eight months earlier than was previously possible.
The process will now be repeated, and the scientists predict that this will double the rate of “genetic gain” in the herd, dramatically speeding up the process of selecting and breeding more “methane-efficient” animals.
Agriculture produces 12% of the UK’s greenhouse gases.
Methane is a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide and, although it only persists in the atmosphere for 20 years, legally binding deadlines to reduce the UK’s emissions to zero by 2050 have made it a goal for policymakers.
Agriculture is responsible for around 12 percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, the vast majority of which come from methane expelled by livestock in burps and flatulence.
