{"id":34142,"date":"2025-07-03T02:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T02:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/34142\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T02:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T02:18:16","slug":"wa-sheep-feed-efficiency-and-methane-emissions-project-update-delivered-at-new-zealand-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/34142\/","title":{"rendered":"WA sheep feed efficiency and methane emissions project update delivered at New Zealand conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

WA research on sheep feed efficiency and methane emissions has been delivered at an international livestock genetics conference in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development research scientist Brittany Bolt presented preliminary findings from a joint DPIRD and Meat and Livestock Australia project that has indicated potential to select more feed efficient and methane-reduced sheep.<\/p>\n

Ms Bolt presented the preliminary findings at the 26th Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics Conference in Queenstown on June 24.<\/p>\n

She said a critical strategy for growing market access, profitability, and the sheep industry\u2019s long-term sustainability was sheep feed efficiency and reduced methane emissions.<\/p>\n

\"DPIRDCamera IconDPIRD research scientist Amy Bowden, Katanning Research Station team leader Keren Muthsam, DPIRD research scientist Brittany Bolt and Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the past two years we have collected feed intake, liveweight and growth from 756 weaners from MLA\u2019s Resource Flock at DPIRD\u2019s Katanning Research Station, which uses industry nominated genetics from Merinos, maternal, terminal, and shedding breeds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our measurements, we found that liveweight and growth account for 72 to 89 per cent of variation in average daily intake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we adjust average daily intake for liveweight and growth, we can identify animals that are consuming more feed and those that consume a lot less at the same liveweight and growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is significant variation across and within all breed types in the study, which suggests that there is opportunity to select for more feed efficient animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers in the joint project utilised portable accumulation chambers on Resource Flock weaners to measure methane.<\/p>\n

\u201cMethane is an important part of understanding productivity efficiency as methane is a bi-product of ruminant digestion \u2014 energy that is not used for growing muscle, wool, or fat \u2014 it can be viewed as wasted energy,\u201d Ms Bolt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike feed intake, liveweight and growth are major drivers for methane production, generally, the greater the liveweight and growth the greater the methane produced.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this means is, if we are selecting only for reducing methane, we are sacrificing production.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DPIRDCamera IconDPIRD research scientist Brittany Bolt looks over the Portable Accumulation Chambers at the Katanning Research Station, used to measure methane production from sheep. Credit: DPIRD<\/p>\n

Ms Bolt said the research has demonstrated a large amount of variation in both feed intake and methane production.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been able to identify animals that are consuming less feed, producing less methane with the same amount of liveweight and growth as animals that are conversely eating a lot and producing more methane,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research highlights the potential for genetic improvements to help reduce methan emissions and enhance feed efficiency in sheep, offering pathways to a more sustainable and profitable sheep industry.<\/p>\n

Feed intake and methane data will continue to be collected at in Katanning for the next three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feed intake and methane data collected here in WA, will ultimately contribute to the development of new Australian Sheep Breeding Values to allow producers to select for more efficient and productive sheep,\u201d Ms Bolt said.<\/p>\n

Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis said the research is \u201ccritical\u201d for helping producers adapts and access new meat markets while the sheep industry is facing significant change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conference provides a platform to present WA\u2019s research on methane and feed efficiency traits, fostering collaboration with global experts, industry leaders, and breeding groups to drive innovation in livestock genetics,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttending the conference will bolster Brittany\u2019s expertise in livestock genetics, and means she will bring that knowledge back to WA to support the development of genetic strategies to improve sheep productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research is a credit to the work of DPIRD and its scientists, and with Brittany and Amy representing the next generation of local scientists, I think our industry is in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DPIRDCamera IconDPIRD research scientists Brittany Bolt and Amy Bowden with Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis and Katanning Research Station team leader Keren Muthsam. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WA research on sheep feed efficiency and methane emissions has been delivered at an international livestock genetics conference…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[28299,28301,28300,815,28302,50,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-34142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-countryman","9":"tag-countryman-livestock","10":"tag-countryman-news","11":"tag-genetics","12":"tag-great-southern-herald","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114786907770472688","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}