Ag Matters

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📸Photo Credit: Dave Allen Photography

Ruminants like cows, sheep, deer and goats have a four-chambered stomach enabling them to readily break down and extract energy and nutrients from fibrous plants like grass. Microbes in the rumen break down those complex carbohydrates into simpler molecules via enteric fermentation. Some of these microbes, while necessary for the digestive process, produce methane, which is then belched out.

This means that the amount of methane produced by an individual ruminant animal is directly linked to how much it eats.

On average:

🐄 A dairy cattle beast produces 98kg of methane per year
🐂 A beef cattle beast produces 61kg of methane per year
🦌 A deer produces 25kg of methane per year
🐑 A sheep produces 13kg of methane per year

The good news is, there is lots of research being done into how to combat this. From low-emission ryegrasses, methane inhibitors, nitrification inhibitors and breeding low-emitting stock.

Read more about current actions to tackle on-farm emissions here: https://agmatters.pulse.ly/rplqxrmhul

Feeling overwhelmed with climate change information?

That’s why we created Ag Matters. Practical, science-backed information in an easy-to-digest format. We want to arm farmers and growers with the information they need to be resilient.

Ag Matters Explore videos and other information about primary production and climate change, including ideas and emerging technologies to help reduce emissions on-farm.

From one farmer to another….

Anewa's trustees encourage other hill country farmers to see their farms as diverse landscapes rather than homogenous sheep and beef farms.

“There is value in taking the time to identify different areas of land - the poorer performing areas through to the best performing areas. Shifting the focus to profit/ha helps to identify where areas might be costing the business and could be taken out of pastoral production and used for carbon sequestration opportunities. This can also lead to improved performance on the better areas and simplify management as well.”

This one’s for the audio and visual learners. With a collection of videos on our AgMatters YouTube channel, you can learn about the science behind methane and look under the hood at what some New Zealand farmers are doing to reduce their emissions.

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Emissions ⬇️ 14% | farm profitability ⬆️60-100%

Reconnecting Mana Whenua back to their land has been a key driver to many of the changes at Pouarua Farms.

With the help of a Tangata Whenua outreach programme, they’ve embarked on a journey that's led to many changes that have culminated in some outstanding environmental and financial results.

⬇️cow numbers and improved per-cow production
⬆️ Area of maize cropping for internal use and sale
❌ 200ha from one block’s dairy platform to develop a dairy-beef unit
🫐Retired unproductive dairy area to develop 10-ha blueberry unit
🐄Moved one herd to once-a-day

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“Don’t be driven by fear - there are plenty of people trying to fear-monger. Focus on what you can do, what you can control”.

Covering an impressive 2,250ha, Pourua Farms comprises 8 dairy farms, a dairy beef unit, various cropping blocks and a horticultural unit growing blueberries.

Jointly owned by owned by Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāti Tara Tokanui and Te Patukirikiri, Pourua Farms sit within Māori land blocks known as Ngarua, Waitakaruru and Puhangateuru in the Hauraki Plains.

In 2018 the operation of the land was fully undertaken by its Iwi owners, who took the property from mostly dairy to the highly diverse operation it is today. These changes to land use helped reduce their emissions by an impressive 14% to date.