Reducing Methane Emissions in Sheep

Great work boing done by Murdoch University

I recently saw a post on X by Hamish Thompson @MoojepinMerinos Moojepin Merinos from Katanning Western Australia describing some of the exciting research Murdoch University is doing to reduce sheep farmers methane emissions, and the role his family is playing in assisting the project.

They have a few different projects going on in WA at the moment: First, there’s the “Prioritising Lamb Survival Interventions” project. It got a bit delayed, but now they are looking to have it wrapped up by the end of 2024. Really looking forward to seeing what insights they uncover on that one!

Then there’s the “Optimal Supplementary Feeding Strategies for Lamb Survival” project. Murdoch is teaming up with MLA, AWI, and Charles Sturt University on that one. The goal is to give sheep farmers some solid recommendations on how to feed their ewes during lambing to help those young lambs thrive. 

But perhaps the biggest project is the “Methane Mitigating Feed Additives for Grazing Sheep” (MERiL) initiative. It’s a $9 million effort led by AWI, with the University of New England, a bunch of state agriculture departments, and the University of Western Australia chipping in. They are really digging deep into how certain feed additives can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions for grazing sheep. Fascinating stuff!

On top of that work, AWI has also started working on a paper that looks at potential future reductions in the Australian Sheep Industry and they are aiming to have that one done early next year. So while we don’t have the “nitty gritty” details on the Murdoch specific research, it appears they are right in thick of it when it comes to tackling methane emissions for sheep. This kind of collaboration is gratifying to see and must hope that they are able to find solutions that will benefit both the environment and farmers. Very cool stuff!