International sheep project to be led by Teagasc with the support of Sheep Ireland

Teagasc has received funding for the project from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) under the Green ERAHUB funding programme.

Key sheep breeding nations, including New Zealand, Scotland, Norway, France and Uruguay, are joint partners on the project, which aims to provide a platform for national and global comparison of methane and carbon dioxide emissions for the purpose of selective breeding for lower-emitting animals.

Building on existing and previous project collaborations nationally and internationally, the project uses portable accumulation chambers across all countries for individual animal methane measurements. In Ireland, performance-recorded animals from the research flock at Teagasc Athenry and the Sheep Ireland Central Progeny Test flocks are participating in the research.

Methane measurement using the portable accumulation chambers is well established at Teagasc, while GreenFeed technology for measuring methane is now in its early stages. However, focusing solely on methane reduction could undermine profit traits, so balancing its economic value within a multi-trait breeding programme is necessary.

Crucial to the project is understanding the impacts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) on other animal characteristics, such as growth, feed intake and efficiency, and quantifying these effects. The knowledge generated will provide a comprehensive list of recommendations for breeding programmes to be determined in tandem with the economic implications of selecting for low methane sheep.

In Ireland and other countries, research has shown that genetic improvement can be used as a means to meet policy targets for lower Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The robust science from this project will provide a mechanism for national and global comparisons to underpin governmental GHG reduction targets for the successful implementation of science into policy and work to encourage farmers to use genetic improvement as a means to reduce GHG emissions from one generation to the next.