Sheep methane: High tech tool now in use on UK farm

The new, trailer-mounted Portable Accumulation Chambers (PACs) can predict methane emissions in individual sheep from a variety of systems, including at pasture, as well as in multiple locations.

This is according to scientists at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), which has unveiled the New Zealand-designed chambers as the latest tool in mitigating agricultural greenhouse gases.

Scientists can collect air samples and then analyse methane concentration, showing which genetics, feed types and systems generate the highest emission levels.

Rob Hodgkins, who has 2,500 sheep on his farm in Hertfordshire, has become the first farmer in the UK to use the PACs, following a grant from Innovate UK and with the help of Agri-EPI Centre.

He said: “Not only does this make sense from an environmental point of view, but it also makes sense economically. It will only be a matter of time before consumers will be able to look at labels on packets of meat that shows what they’re buying has come from, for example, a carbon-zero sheep.”

SRUC’s Dr Nicola Lambe, who is leading the project, said: “There is an urgent need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from sheep. Recent figures show there are more than 1.2 billion sheep in the world, producing around 7 million tonnes of methane into the atmosphere.

“Despite the fact resource efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions are global priorities, there are few examples around the world of research to implement breeding strategies to directly tackle these issues in sheep.

“This is largely due to the difficulty in recording feed consumption and greenhouse gas emissions on an individual animal basis, especially in grass-based systems. The Portable Accumulation Chambers will play an important role in starting to address this issue.”

Sheep farmers hoping to find out more about the PACs can contact nicola.lambe@sruc.ac.uk