Brades work hard behind the scenes on the quality of the milk, the welfare of the animals and traceability. In addition to these areas we’ve started addressing other key elements of the business where innovation can have a positive impact –mainly reducing our herd’s carbon footprint.
In early 2018, we became the first dairy farm globally to feed Mootral to our herd.
Mootral is a natural feed supplement that reduces methane emissions from ruminants by up to 30% and ultimately helps to combat climate change. Mootral is not just a product, it is a solution that will help farmers, businesses, policymakers, and consumers to reduce their CO2-footprint through climate-smart cows.
We wanted to improve our carbon footprint but also pioneer something that can be taken up by other farms in the UK and globally, making a real impact on climate change. We strongly believe that farmers can be part of the solution to global warming.
We ran a 12-week pilot study on all our 400 cows. No other conditions were changed and the herd and farmers went about their daily lives as normal. Leading scientists from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) measured the methane output weekly, using state of the art laser technology. The results were groundbreaking, showing an average 30% reduction. That’s the equivalent of taking 133 family cars off the road each year.
Brades continue to feed the supplement and are really excited to see what the future holds and the impact this can potentially have.
A peer reviewed paper on the trial can be found here