Environmental Footprinting of Lamb Production
Status: Ongoing
Contact person: Hollie Riddell (h.riddell@bangor.ac.uk) / Prof Dave Chadwick
Funding sources:
Background: Lamb production systems are under pressure to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Currently, very little is known about how emissions vary from different systems. Emissions from different systems will be quantified through use of a mobile short-term methane measurement system deployed in lowland, upland and hill plots to 21 Welsh Mountain ewes at Henfaes Research Centre. N2O will be quantified by collecting urine and dung from the same ewes and then applying them to the grassland within a static chamber measurement system. This data will then be used along with already published data to create an environmental footprint of lamb production systems using LCA methodologies. Currently, the lowland CH4 trial has been completed and the upland trial will be beginning soon as well as the lowland N2O measurements.
Aims:
- Quantify the greenhouse gas emissions (ruminant CH4 and N2O from urine and dung) from lowland, upland and hill pastures
- Develop an environmental footprint taking account of wider ecosystem services from lamb production systems
- Explore ecosystem services and upland management scenarios within the context of net zero greenhouse gas targets
Website: Follow Hollie on Twitter for regular updates - @RiddellHR
Collaborators: Dr David Styles (University of Limerick), Prof Bob Rees (SRUC)
Outputs: Lamb Production and Wales: A Holistic Environmental Footprint: Technical report for Farming Connect
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