Carried out from January to March 2023, the trial noticed Babybel maker Bel Group alongside Bel’s Milk Producers Affiliation within the West of France (generally known as APBO) and dsm-firmenich conduct a pilot aimed toward decreasing methane emissions from dairy cows by way of the usage of feed additive Bovaer.
The APBO is fashioned of round 700 dairy farms who’ve a provide contract with Bel in France. Bel collects 415 million liters of milk every year from the farms, and has for the previous six years labored with farmers on methods to advertise a extra sustainable dairy trade and animal welfare. For instance, farmers have now carried out a carbon audit and outlined an motion plan to cut back their emissions.
For this pilot mission, 5 farms that have been consultant of the range of feed distribution tools, kind of ration on the trough and distribution preparations seen throughout APBO farms have been chosen for the pilot. Bovaer was added at a charge of round 1 / 4 teaspoon a day to the weight loss program of dairy cows.
Knowledge and analyses of ration samples have been collected by Bel technicians in the course of the check and interpreted by consultants from Idele, the French institute for livestock breeding. Beneath optimum situations of use, the discount in enteric methane was estimated at between 29% and 42% relying on the farm over the 2 months of the examine.
The outcomes corroborate current proof that recommend 30% methane discount will be anticipated on common.
Simon Bonnet, Director of Milk Buying for the Bel group, commented: “Bovaer gives immense potential for transferring in the direction of a low-carbon dairy trade, a powerful and long-standing dedication of the Bel Group. As we speak, we’re delighted to have been capable of check this progressive answer in France and reveal its relevance, working in live performance with our dairy farmers from APBO, Idele and dsm-firmenich.”
Yoann Lézé, Vice-Chairman of APBO, added: “As accountable milk producers, we maintain an in depth eye on methods to cut back the carbon footprint of our farms, and are totally conscious of the improvements coming onto the market, resembling Bovaer.”
Gradual-release model for pasture-grazed cows within the works
In July 2023, the Bel Group introduced it is going to start rolling out the feed additive to farms in its Slovak dairy basin, which provides the Bel plant in Michalovce. The Slovak plant produces Babybel cheeses for shoppers within the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
In the meantime, dsm-firmenich is at present growing a slow-release type of the product which must also allow Bovaer to be lively in the course of the hours when cows are out at pasture.
