Feeding cattle with seaweed helps to reduce their methane emissions by nearly 40% without affecting their health or weight, a study has found.
Livestock accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the largest portion coming from methane that cattle release when they burp. Grazing cattle also produce more methane than feedlot cattle or dairy cows because they eat more fibre from grass. In the US, there are nine million dairy cows and over 64 million beef cattle.
Researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that feeding grazing beef cattle a seaweed supplement in pellet form reduced their methane emissions by almost 40%. While this is the first study to test seaweed on grazing beef cattle, it follows research that showed seaweed can cut methane emissions 82% in feedlot cattle and over 50% in dairy cows.
“Beef cattle spend only about three months in feedlots and spend most of their lives grazing on pasture and producing methane,” said senior author Ermias Kebreab...