Greenhouse gases New Zealand style

I am currently on a study tour in New Zealand looking at how they are dealing with the issues of greenhouse gas (GHG) production from beef and sheep systems.

Like many visitors, my first impression of New Zealand is just how green it is, even in their late winter/early spring. There is grass everywhere. There are odd small pockets of forestry, native scrub, orchard and kale, but the majority is grass.

Despite the vast areas of grass there is an evident thoroughness, even ruthlessness, in the way it is harvested. There is a forest of electric fencing ensuring the cattle get the chance to graze the right amount of feed. Front fences and back fences come into play to manage re-growth effectively even at this early stage of their grass season. Perhaps the most startling sight for me was the stocking rate of dry dairy cows, with 20 on an area the size of a tennis court!

Sheep are run exclusively on grazed grass. Speaking to one sheep farmer on the North Island about his sheep system, I mentioned that we would expect to use supplementary feeds in the winter and he was aghast at the thought.

All this grass feeding does mean that the methane output from the national beef and dairy herds and the sheep flock is a major cause for concern. Recent inventory estimates put GHG production from ruminants (methane and nitrous oxide) at 48% of the national production footprint for CO2 equivalents (eq) - the equivalent figure in the UK is 5%. As signatories to the Kyoto protocol, New Zealand has CO2 eq reduction targets to meet. Hence there is a huge programme of government-funded research afoot to try and address issues of rumen management and animal efficiency.

Alongside the research there will be an emissions trading scheme introduced for farmers in 2015. This is effectively a tax on production. There is, however, a parallel ‘carrot’ for land owners, as well as the taxation ‘stick’. The carrot comes in the form of a credit for tree planting and growing. Carbon credits are earned for new forestry and these can be traded. The average forestry life is calculated to be 30 years, and at that point of harvest 80% of the credits have to be repaid, with 20% remaining for the landowner based on the assumption that 20% of the carbon in a tree is below ground in the roots.

My colleague Liz Genever previously visited New Zealand, and the excellent grass management she witnessed there provided inspiration for the work she is now doing championing improved grass utilisation by English beef and sheep producers. More profitable production is only part of the benefit - there is a significant contribution to GHG reduction too.

Liz has run a good number of successful grassland management events so far this summer and more are planned. If you haven’t yet been to one then please visit our website to find out more about events near you.

Dr Duncan Pullar is Head of Research and Development for Eblex. To read more of Duncan's blogs please click here.