The importance of digestive health for well-being is in the news these days. Researchers continue to examine how a diverse establishment of microorganisms in the human digestive system impact an individual’s long-term health and the crucial role that dairy plays in overall health and wellness. 

So, what about the digestive health of the cows that produce the milk? Could optimizing their diets be important too? One private-public partnership is focused on answering just that question. The checkoff-founded Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) jointly developed the Greener Cattle Initiative (GCI) in 2021 as the first international consortium dedicated to funding research to mitigate enteric methane emissions. 

GCI stakeholders include the founding members: ADM, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding, Elanco, Genus plc, the National Dairy Herd Information Association, Nestlé and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre and steering committee members Global Methane Hub and JBS USA. The work of this powerful group is important because methane (CH₄) is naturally produced by some microbes during ruminant digestion of human-inedible biomass like grasses, plant stems, leaves and food byproducts. 

By sharing knowledge and resources, this group is addressing this concern by funding scalable research focused on improvements in dairy cow/calf nutrition, rumen microbiota, dairy cow genetics, sensing/data technology and socioeconomic analysis. As of 2023, more than $7.2 million was invested in research to accelerate knowledge in this space and additional projects are slated to begin in 2025.

Also in 2023, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issued a technical report titled “Methane emissions in livestock and rice systems,” to provide an overview of current technical and innovative approaches to mitigate all agricultural methane emissions. Options to mitigate the methane that cows emit as a result of feed digestion (enteric) were included in this report. Researchers reported that the use of dietary lipid supplements and extruded oil seed meals may help decrease enteric methane production, and, in some cases, improve milk composition.

One example of this is research focused on a new variety of soybeans. “In 2012, a new variety of soybeans called Plenish was commercially released in response to the need for high oleic acid containing oils with high heat resistance and no trans-fat for food use,” states Roger Theisen, marketing manager for Iowa-based Corteva Agriscience. “Now, these soybeans are in about 10% of dairy herd rations in the U.S.” 

The company’s senior dairy veterinarian and nutritionist Adam Krull, DVM., Ph.D., shared, “Feeding studies have demonstrated increases in cow milkfat production and ration profitability when fed to lactating cows. These soybeans were created to be low in linoleic acid, which can be detrimental to rumen function, so using them to replace palm-based lipid supplements is doable. Ongoing farmer observations have been that the cows seem healthier, happier and more productive. Since the soybeans can be grown, roasted, crushed, and fed locally, the transportation carbon footprint is lower.”   

Then in May 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of Bovaer 10 to be marketed in the U.S. by Elanco as a methane-reducing feed ingredient for use in lactating cattle. Bovaer 10 is comprised of 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP), which is a nitrate-containing, bio-based alcohol with a “seek-and-destroy mission.” It has a similar shape as the methyl-coenzyme M, which serves as the substrate for the enzyme used by the microbiota to produce methane. This compound seeks out and inactivates the enzyme, methyl-coenzyme M reductase, preventing methane generation. During its mission, 3-NOP is hydrolyzed, and its components are metabolized and excreted. According to its developer, dsm-firmenich, feeding one tablespoon per lactating cow per day can reduce methane emissions by about 30% in lactating dairy cows. 

Pilot programs to evaluate a variety of methane reduction practices are now underway through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program. Dairy farms across the U.S. will be implementing new technologies, modifying on-farm practices, and measuring differences in methane emissions. Pilot project evaluations help the dairy industry test options to address the U.S. Dairy Net Zero Initiative goal of helping U.S. dairy farms of all sizes and geographies implement new technologies and adopt economically viable practices to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality, optimize water usage and improve water quality by 2050. 

Juan Tricario, Ph.D., senior vice president of environmental research for Rosemont, Ill,-based Dairy Management Inc. notes, “Over the last decade, the research community collected scientific evidence on many different potential enteric methane mitigation strategies. Today, the dairy sector has exciting, science-backed mitigation options that are being evaluated under real-world conditions to help guide the industry on what combination of practices will be best for each farm and our planet.”