UltraGreenCow: Comprehensive greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions measurement capacity for large ruminant production

The UK Government has set an ambitious target to meet Net-Zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, has pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030, and has legal requirements to reduce ammonia emissions. Greenhouse gases pose a threat to our environment by driving climate change. Ammonia reacts with other substances in the air to form particulate matter, which is damaging to human and animal health, causes damage to vulnerable habitats through acidification, and the nitrogen in ammonia can be re-emitted as nitrous oxide (a potent GHG), also contributing to climate change.

In the UK, agriculture is responsible for 11% of GHGs and 87% of ammonia emissions. Around 50% of GHGs and 75% of ammonia emissions from agriculture are associated with livestock or their wastes. Therefore, reducing emissions of these gases from agriculture is vital to meeting these ambitious commitments. However, there is a real risk that implementing a mitigation measure to reduce one particular gas could lead to increases in one or more of the others. It is important to identify, quantify, and optimise these potential trade-offs to ensure that a net reduction in all emissions is achieved.

Currently there are very few facilities with the capability to measure emissions of all these gases (methane, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and ammonia) simultaneously from individual animals, which is apparent in the very low number of studies reporting all of them. The addition of ammonia and nitrous oxide emission measurement capability to our current respiration chamber facility (GreenCow - measuring methane and carbon dioxide), alongside upgrades to the current system to improve reliability and energy efficiency, would create an ultra-modern, state-of-the-art research facility allowing the comprehensive assessment of the net environmental impact of mitigation measures. The facility is designed to meet the requirements for beef cattle, but methods for measuring non-lactating dairy cattle, small ruminants (e.g., sheep and goats) poultry, pigs and for slurry studies will be developed to vastly expand the user-base for the new equipment.

The aim for the new equipment will be to provide new knowledge on impacts on the key pollutants of nitrous oxide and ammonia. Gaining comprehensive underpinning data supporting reductions in all emissions when mitigation measures are applied, or quantifying and optimising trade-offs between gases, will improve cohesion between different policy objectives and will help improve farmer and consumer confidence leading to greater uptake.