SIMPLE BREEDING choices may be all that is needed to secure significant environmental and financial gains for the UK livestock sector.

Meat sector giant ABP this week acknowledged the 'intense pressure' the industry was under to reduce its emissions – and revealed research suggesting that genetics might hold the key to the necessary carbon cutting.

ABP itself has a goal to reduce its emissions by 1.9million tonnes by 2030 – and with 78% of those emissions linked to live cattle, its focus has been on reducing animals’ carbon footprints.

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“For ABP to play its part in the environmental crisis we need to look at how to support and enable farmer suppliers to lower their footprint,” said group technical and sustainability director Dean Holroyd. “Economic and environmental benefits travel hand in hand – if you have efficient animals then it helps the bottom line and the environment.”

With over 20,000 calves a year going through ABP’s Blade Farming system, it has had plenty data help to evaluate the impact that different genetics can have on productivity. Working with Genus, it looked at growth rates, feed conversion efficiencies, carcass values and eating quality – as well as calving ease and fertility performance in the source dairy or beef suckler cows.

At its Bromstead demonstration farm in Shropshire, it found no less than a £250 differential between the best and worst Aberdeen Angus sires – progeny from the worst averaged 274kg deadweight while those from the best averaged 334kg.

Feed conversion efficiencies were similarly affected; over a 12-week rearing period, progeny from sire 12 averaged 6.4kg of feed per kg of growth, compared to sire five at 7.37kg. “At a value £1.20/kg liveweight, that equates to a £24 variance,” explained Mr Holroyd. “So you have similar feed going in but extra weight coming out.”

Bringing all of that information together has enabled the firm to identify the most efficient sires. Progeny from the top five averaged a gross margin – value minus variable costs and overheads – of £225.79, whereas offspring from the bottom five sires averaged just £81.28 a head.

When it comes to environmental impact, those efficiencies have a marked effect. At Bromstead, based on a slaughter age of 20 months, offspring from the best sire averaged 7.29kg of carbon equivalent emissions per kg of meat, equivalent to 2,543kg/head, while those from the worst sire averaged 8.53kg.

“The average age at slaughter in the UK is 26.5 months, so emissions average 10.76kg (3,498kg/head); that’s 47% more than offspring from the best sire at Bromstead,” said Mr Holroyd. “If you roll that out across the industry that will have a huge impact.”

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The farm has also been trialling ZELP collars which measure and reduce methane emissions by up to 50%, and will look at the impact that different grazing and farm management practices have on the environment and production economics.

“As an industry, we’re challenged a lot on our environmental credentials,” added ABP’s Agriculture Director and Managing Director of Blade Farming, Richard Phelps. “We need to move away from being defensive to finding solutions and giving farmers positive tools to them to use.”