The US dairy industry wants to engineer the “cow of the future” to pass less gas, a project aimed at cutting the industry's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. The cow project aims to reduce intestinal methane, the single largest component of the dairy industry's carbon footprint, said Thomas P. Gallagher, chief executive officer of the US Dairy and Dairy Management Inc.'s Innovation Center in Rosemont, Illinois. One area to be explored is modifying the dairy cows' feed so they produce less methane, said Rick Naczi, the leader of the initiative. “Right now there is some work being done on fish-oil additives and some other things,” he said. “The cow is responsible for the majority of the greenhouse gas on the farm itself. We know there are ways that we can find to cut or reduce that production.” Another possible solution is targeting the microbes in the cow's gut, Naczi said. “You can change the mix of the bacteria in the cow's rumen and change the methane production that way.” He expects the research to develop some solutions within a year. The initiative could have a huge effect in Wisconsin. The state has about 1.25 million dairy cows, or about 14 percent of the national total. Greenhouse gas emissions are blamed for global warming. Cutting the dairy industry's emissions by 25 percent would be equivalent to removing about 1.25 million passenger cars from the nation's roads every year, Gallagher said. But consumers increasingly demand products that are produced, packaged and distributed in a sustainable way, Gallagher said. Other greenhouse gas emission projects to be explored include turning digester-generated methane into energy that can be sold. Managing agricultural operations in a sustainable way can improve efficiencies and cut costs, said Bryan Weech, livestock agriculture program director with World Wildlife Fund. Those efforts can also protect watersheds and improve soil health and water quality.
