New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts

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First measurements of methane emitted by grazing cattle of the Argentinean beef system

N. Bárbaro¹

J. Gere^2,3

R. Gratton ^2,3

R. Rubio³

K. Williams³

¹Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica
Libertador 8250
1429 Buenos Aires, Argentina

²Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)

³Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires
Pinto 399
7000 Tandil, Argentina

Abstract We report the first measurements of methane emitted by cattle of the Argentinean beef system, one of the largest in the world. Special care was taken to keep the animals under production conditions typical of the Pampa, the main livestock region of the country. Therefore, we applied the SF₆ tracer technique to 20 young Aberdeen Angus steers randomly chosen in a commercial farm, in which paddocks they were left to graze. The liveweight change of the animals, the herbage allowance and quality were followed during the research. The magnitudes varied significantly throughout the experiment (which included two separate periods of time, the first during December 2005 and the second in February–March 2006) and from paddock to paddock. In spite of these differences, the average daily methane emissions per head rarely depart from 170 g/day. However, larger variations were observed in the methane yield and, specially, in the methane emitted per weight gained. The work was also useful to analyse some technical features of importance in making the technique suitable for growing steers under the extensive condition prevailing in the Argentinean beef system.

Keywords grazing; beef cattle; methane emission; SF₆ tracer technique

A06065; Online publication date 11 June 2008; Received 7 November 2006; accepted 15 March 2008

New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2008, Vol. 51: 209–219
0028–8233/08/5102–0209 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008

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