Messina team with Number8Bio in dairy carbon reduction trial

Less than a teaspoon of feed additive could be worth its weight in carbon gold, scientists working on a Victorian dairy project say.

A single gram of fodder additive could make a load of difference to dairy’s carbon dilemma, scientists behind a new farm trial in northern Victoria say.

Ten cattle at a Numurkah farm operated by ice cream brand Messina are part of a trial with agri-tech company Number 8 Bio’s feed additive, BetterFeed.

Depending on the conditions, cattle will consume between one gram and 20 grams of additive per cow, per day in the trial.

One teaspoon equates to five grams roughly in the metric system but the scientists behind the project say just a dash of additive has significant potential.

Number 8 Bio co-founders Alex Carpenter and Tom Williams told The Weekly Times that pending results, the chosen feed variant will be introduced to the entire herd, setting the scene for a broader rollout.

“We’re starting off small – only 10 cows – but we obviously intend to expand to the entire herd and make a big splash with some decarbonised gelatos,” Dr Carpenter said.

“The idea is to get the additive out there on farm, test it in a real-world setting. Obviously, the other trials have been much more controlled, university trials but we really want to see how the product performs, as well as it has already in the controlled settings, in farm conditions.”

The trial began in late October and focuses on measuring methane emission reductions alongside key performance indicators such as milk yield and quality.

Like any scientific-commercial development, the specific ingredients of the additive aren’t made public but Dr Williams said it was based on organic matter.

“We’re working with a novel organic molecule that inhibits methane while liberating extra energy from the animal’s feed,” he said.

“We’ve also been looking at a host of prebiotics that promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the rumen that can out-compete or outweigh the methanogens – which are the microbes that produce methane in the animal’s stomach.”

Dairy farmer Steve Arnold with Number8Bio founder Alex Carpenter at Messina's Numurkah dairy farm.

If the trials are successful, the feed additive is expected to be implemented across

Gelato Messina’s entire dairy operation and extended to other dairy farms across

Australia as part of a wider deployment strategy.

The Numurkah trial is part of a wider research program testing the effectiveness and consistency of Number 8 Bio’s technology.

Other scientific collaborations have taken place with Queensland Animal Science Precinct, the University of New England and Agriculture Victoria’s Ellinbank SmartFarm.