Austrlian cows produce considerably less greenhouse gas than first thought: research

Deadly greenhouse emissions from Australian cattle have been revealed to be 24 percent lower than first thought, according research data published on Monday.

The research compiled data from scientists around Australia over the last eight years, and it was concluded that beef and dairy cattle were producing up to 12.6 million tonnes less methane than previous estimates.

According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the research was commissioned in an effort to study how to lower the "high" level of methane that cattle produce, and according to the CSIRO's Ed Charmley, older methods for measuring methane differed from farm to farm, resulting in inaccurate results.

He said the methane levels were not as "high" as once feared.

"Different methods used to calculate emissions from livestock in temperate and tropical regions were based on studies done in the 1960s and 1990s, mainly with dairy cattle," Charmley said in a statement on Monday.

"Both of these past methods were found to be likely over-estimating the emissions from cattle.

Charmley said the new method was more accurate as it was wide-ranging when compared with methods used more than 50 years ago.

"The revised method, which is based on improved ways of estimating ruminant methane emissions from forage-fed beef and dairy cattle, be they in temperate or tropical regions, has been tested against international defaults and found to give consistent methane yields."

Dr Matthew McDonagh, who also worked on the project, said the news came as a relief to beef and dairy farmers who were committing precious time to reducing what was thought to be a major problem.

"This revelation clearly shows livestock-based emissions are nowhere near what they were thought to be and will help improve the accuracy of Australia's national greenhouse gas emissions estimates," McDonagh said.

"This is positive news for the Australian livestock sector as it seeks to continually improve its production efficiencies and demonstrate its environmental credentials." Enditem