{"id":10680,"date":"2023-05-24T10:45:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T10:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www-dev.promar-international.com\/?p=10680"},"modified":"2023-05-24T10:45:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T10:45:13","slug":"efficiency-emissions-beef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.promar-international.com\/it\/efficiency-emissions-beef\/","title":{"rendered":"Efficiency, emissions and making more money from beef"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s a quick guide for beef livestock producers. It will show you how you can make more profit by increasing efficiency at every stage of production. Best of all, it will show you how to do this while reducing your farm\u2019s emissions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promar, carbon footprinting, and beef farmers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the past 12 months, Promar has been conducting lots of carbon footprint audits for beef farmers. Understanding a farm\u2019s emissions sources can be tricky. Modern-day businesses are complex and don\u2019t fit into simple system descriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, our research has established some common themes. These fall into three major topics: inputs, animals, and nutrients, which I\u2019ll outline below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inputs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Minimising food costs without compromising profitability is key for farms. Now, the emissions implicit in the production of the feeds are out of the control of the buyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, those emissions are allocated to the farm that buys them<\/a>. So, it\u2019s important to purchase wisely, and to reduce reliance on purchased feed by considering the following issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digestibility<\/strong> \u2013 Focus on improving the digestibility of your home-grown grass and forage to increase its energy content. This maximises growth potential and reduces the need for purchased supplements. Furthermore, by decreasing the effort required to break the feed down in the rumen, methane emissions are decreased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We work with farmers to modify their grazing management to improve grass quality. This includes increasing the frequency of silage cuts to raise energy density and decrease fibre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protein<\/strong> \u2013 Soya has a bad reputation in the climate sector. This is because of its association with Amazonian deforestation<\/a>. Minimising its use can provide a big win for emissions reduction. However, cows need their protein, so farmers have to provide it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most efficient way to do this is by improving the quality of the food they graze. We work with farms to achieve this by assessing grass protein levels and working out how to improve it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solutions are always bespoke, based on our findings, but these include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n