Section 20: Activities

NOTE: This version of Section 20 has been approved by the working group's Chair. Please be aware that further revisions may occur before final review and approval by the Board and ICAR members per the Approval of Page Process.

Global Methane Genetics

The Global Methane Genetics (GMG) initiative is a global program to accelerate genetic progress in methane emission in ruminants in the Global North and South. This WUR-ABG coordinated initiative is funded by the Global Methane Hub and the Bezos Earth Fund, both based on philanthropic funds to support methane mitigation and prevent global warming. If you have questions about the GMG initiative you can send an email to gmg@wur.nl, contact Roel Veerkamp: roel.veerkamp@wur.nl or Birgit Gredler-Grandl: birgit.gredler-grandl@wur.nl.

The initiative hold the following projects:

Dairy Cattle

We can look to nature to reduce CH4 emissions and use genetic diversity to provide solutions. Genetic improvement, based on identifying animals with genetic predisposition for lower CH4 output and using them to breed for the next generations, is a reliable, cost-effective, and permanent method for transforming livestock's impact on the environment.  Breeding programs in dairy cattle are run within breeds and across countries. Therefore, the program will accelerate genetic progress by focusing on four major dairy breeds and organizations and countries involved in those breeds. Additionally, the program will acquire considerable leverage through investments in these countries. If you have questions about the dairy cattle section you can contact Birgit Gredler-Grandl: birgit.gredler-grandl@wur.nl.

Holstein breed

The largest data collection has been for the Holstein breed, but there is a lack of standardization and protocols in terms of equipment and its utilization (farm level, data processing, data sharing agreements, genetic evaluations, and data collections). Governments and breeding organizations in Denmark and the Netherlands will collaborate and collect methane and genotypes on more than 20,000 Holstein cows for the GMG database. Also, Poland and Italy team up to collect data for the GMG database, and their aim is also to collect more than 20,000 Holstein animals and develop genetic evaluations across a wide range of systems.

Denmark-The Netherlands

This collaboration between Aarhus University and Wageningen Livestock Research has five main goals. The contact person for questions about this project is Trine Villumsen: tmv@qgg.au.dk.

• Setting up Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for measuring methane using sniffers
• Setting up international protocols to measure methane on commercial farms
• Develop software tools to automate the processing of data into a phenotype
• Combine historical data in both countries for genetic evaluations
• Measure enteric methane in 20.000 new cows.

Poland-Italy

This collaboration has the following main goals. The contact person for questions about this project is Raffaella Finocchiaro raffaellafinocchiaro@anafibj.it.

• Measure enteric methane in 20.000 new cows.

Jersey breed

Currently, due to the limited data available, the Jersey dairy breed does not have breeding values for methane (CH4) mitigation. The goal of the program is to collect methane genotypes in Canada and Denmark and share this information with the GMG database. The aim is to develop breeding values that will be distributed through the World Jersey Cattle Bureau organization and national Jersey organizations in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. If you have questions about the Jersey breed section you can contact Rasmus Bak Stephansen rasmus.stephansen@qgg.au.dk

Brown Swiss breed

The Brown Swiss (BS) breed faces significant challenges due to its small population size, an divers environments the animals are kept. A collaboration between Germany, Switzerland, and Austria to phenotype enough animals is a prerequisite for utilizing the genetic potential of reducing methane emission of the BS breed. In addition to a population of 250 cows recorded with Greenfeed, and 1250 with the sniffer, progress will be accelerated by recording an additional 3,360 cows with sniffers. If you have questions about the Brown Swiss breed section you can contact Elena Frenken: fe@fbf-forschung.de.

Red breeds

The red breeds are important for crossbreeding in many countries around the world. The project aims to share and collect CH4 data from Red Dairy Cattle (RDC) breeds (in the Nordic countries, Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK)) and share it with the Global Methane Genetics (GMG) Hub. Together, they will set up a shared genetic evaluation for bulls used for crossbreeding in many more countries. If you have questions about the Red breed section you can contact Elisenda Rius-Vilarrasa: Elisenda.Rius-Vilarrasa@vxa.se.

Beef Cattle

Bluegrass (global beef)

All industries world-wide have been challenged with reducing emissions and beef is no exception. Genetic selection and specifically genomic selection have been identified as key tools to help meet this challenge. Methane emissions are not a local problem, but a global one and several major beef producing countries who exchange genetic material have, are, and will be collecting methane phenotypes for the purpose of genomic prediction. Individually (including those in Australia), these datasets will be limited in their genomic prediction accuracy. The BLUEGRASS alliance will bring together the key players globally, who collectively have solicited key seed funding from the Global Methane Hub. By sharing data and resources, the development of necessary reference populations will be accelerated. Locally or globally, success in the beef genetics industry has been a model of ‘co-opetition’. Breeders, although competitors, pool resources to build tools that can be used by all to compete with one another. This BLUEGRASS alliance is no different. A global alliance will come together to address this challenge, with or without Australia. Having Australia lead and ignite the alliance with MDC co-funding will create opportunities to direct this global initiative and provide first mover advantages for Australian breeders.  

The program is focused on building genomic reference datasets for the main beef breeds in the collaborating countries. The animals to be recorded will be intensively recorded for other production traits, and genotyped, outside this project itself. In each country, trial or research breeding values will be produced and delivered to industry during the life of the project – enabling genetic selection against methane to get underway, and the data will underpin the ability to genomically screen the entire populations of the breeds involved in the respective countries i.e. all seedstock and commercial animals. The data collected will likely assist development of genomic selection against methane in other countries. The accelerated genetic selection and the commercial animal screening will enable real impact to reduce methane from beef cattle. If you have questions about the bluegrass project specifically, you can contact Steve Miller, steve.miller@une.edu.au

Number of phenotypes

This project will phenotype methane traits in beef cattle populations in the US, Australia, the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand. Around 18.500 phenotypes will be collected over all years and countries. It is estimated that around 7.000 phenotypes will be collected in Australia, around 1.600 in New Zealand, around 800 in the UK, around 2.000 in Ireland and around 7.00 in the USA.

Breeds and traits included

All countries included in the Bluegrass project have different breeds and different target traits included in their measurements, besides the methane phenotypes.

Australia will focus on Angus and Hereford seedstock with a research population of Angus, Wagyu, Charolais, Shorthorn and Brahman being a target as well. For the seedstock they will focus on seedstock traits plus methane measurements using PAC measures. For the research populations on seedstock traits plus feed intake, carcass as well as methane measurements with PAC.

For New Zealand priority is the progeny test herds. These are mostly Angus, Hereford and their crosses, including a diallel cross design. Some Angus x Simmental. Complete requirements with seedstock herds of Angus and Hereford. Focus is on the following: progeny test, seedstock traits, conception date (via fetal aging) from natural mate at yearling (then re-breeding), carcass grading on steers, feed intake on heifers, rumen microbiome on steers and heifers, seedstock traits from seedstock herds

For the UK focus lies on Angus and Hereford sired animals, both pedigree and crossbred (including from dairy dams) and they focus on liveweights.

For Ireland they include multi-breed/crossbreed. 30% Charolais and Limousin sired from Continental type suckler dams, 30% Holstein-Friesian and 40% beef (mostly Angus) cross dairy. They will focus on feed intake, liveweight and carcass data.

The USA will be measuring Angus focused on seedstock traits from seedstock herds.

US beef

This project will accelerate genetic selection for reduced methane emissions from U.S. and Canadian beef cattle, through phenotyping and genotyping the 18 most influential beef breeds in North America.

The primary activities of this project will center on phenotyping and genetic evaluation of the Germplasm Evaluation (GPE) herd, a large, multibreed resource population at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Nebraska, USA. This herd is structured to represent the genetic diversity of the 18 most influential beef breeds in the U.S.. These 18 breeds are: Angus, Red Angus, Hereford, South Devon, Shorthorn, Beefmaster, Brangus, Brahman, Santa Gertrudis, Braunvieh, ChiAngus, Charolais, Gelbvieh, Limousin, Maine-Anjou, Salers, Simmental, Tarentaise.

Recording of methane phenotypes will occur using multiple approaches to not only maximize the number of phenotypes collected, but to also offer a comparison between methodologies within a U.S. beef production system. Based on these findings and in coordination with other GMG project teams, standard operating procedures for methane phenotyping of beef cattle will be developed and integrated into the Guidelines for Uniform Beef Improvement Programs supporting the evolution of these approaches into standard practice and routine evaluation in any beef breeding system. If you have questions about the US beef project specifically, you can contact Matthew Spangler, mspangler2@unl.edu.

Main goals

• Recording methane phenotypes from at least 5,500 multi-breed genotyped beef cattle and openly sharing to the GMG database and the public domain.
• Development and publication of uniform guidelines for both methane phenotyping in beef cattle systems and the integration of methane phenotypes into beef genetic evaluations, through the BIF Guidelines wiki.
• Dissemination and routine updating of genetic parameter and genomic marker effects critical for the development of genetic selection tools and deployment of methane-reducing breeding programs.

Sheep

This project focusses on recording methane phenotypes on animals in various populations, e.g. Merino, Texel, Dohne, Corriedale, maternal and terminal. In each case, those animals will be recorded for a range of other production, health, product quality and welfare traits (the exact suite of traits varies between countries). This ensures that it will be possible to determine the genetic relationships between methane traits and the other traits included in current and future selection indexes and breeding programs – meaning that breeders will be able to make informed decisions on any trade-offs between methane and other traits. In total around 16.600 methane phenotypes will be collected over all years and countries. It is estimated that around 7.500 methane phenotypes will be collected in Australia, 3.000 in Uruguay, 4.000 in New Zealand, 1.200 in the UK and 1.000 in the UK. If you have questions about the sheep project specifically, you can contact Daniel Brown, dbrown2@une.edu.au

Main goals

• Phenotyping and reference populations. Fast tracked phenotyping and genotyping up to 16,000 records of methane traits across the key countries to facilitate accurate international evaluation of animals (Table 2).
• Genetic evaluation and models. Breeding values based on international genomic evaluation models to share the benefits of the established reference populations.
• Proxies. Development and validation of new phenotyping methods to expedite genetic progress.
• Breeding Programs. Whole farm system models to incorporate methane into breeding objectives in a balanced way and indexes to facilitate selection of breeding candidates.
• Education and adoption. Stakeholder engagement campaign and international development to ensure world-wide impact.

Africa

This project focused on three regions of Africa (Eastern, Western and Southern Africa). It will will leverage and  accelerate on-going early research on GHG in these regions, strongly build capacity and team up with researchers to record CH₄, other economic productive traits and use the records to implement breeding strategies to reduce CH₄ emission while simultaneously enhancing productivity, food security and employment opportunities in the dairy and beef cattle farming systems; The source of livelihood for many poorly resourced farmers.

Tapping into the existing breeding program infrastructure for improved productivity for dairy cattle in the three regions of Africa, this project will result in overall program that will accelerate genetic progress through focus on phenotyping, genotyping and the use of information from the microbiome in the genetic selection of animals in the smallholder dairy system. The overall impact will be better mitigation of negative effects of climate change and more productive cows. Through selection programs based on the index developed with the phenotypic and genomic information from this project.

The major activities include the direct CH₄ measurements on about 1.655 tropical cattle using GreenFeed and the use of LMD in smallholder farmers. Genotypic information and phenotypes captured routinely on major important productive traits that influence profitability, income and livelihood of farmers on 1.619 animals. Data sets will be linked to a larger existing data on 9.000 cows with phenotypic and genotypic information from existing projects. If you have questions about the Africa project specifically, you can contact Raphael Mrode, raphael.mrode@sruc.ac.uk

Main goals

• Methane measurements available on 1.655 tropical cows.
• Tissue samples and genotypes available on 1.619 tropical cows.
• Genetic relationship between dairy cows in Western and Eastern Africa estimated.
• Multi-trait genomic analysis of dairy data and methane in Eastern Africa.
• Incorporate existing data on over 9.000 cows from existing research projects to enhance genomic prediction.
• Computation and the roll out of final selection index or sub-indexes developed for improved efficiency - reduced CH4 emission, lower maintenance requirement and increased milk production.

Latin America

The aim of this project is to accelerate the reduction of enteric methane emissions in beef cattle in Latin America through genetic selection in key breeds relevant to Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Mexico. The focus will be on phenotyping methane emissions and genotyping animals linked to existing genetic improvement programs. Reference populations for genomic selection will be the basis to improve the estimation of genetic merit and select for lower emission. The link with ongoing genetic improvement programs provides data on other economically relevant production traits, thus making it possible to estimate genetic correlations and optimize methane emission reductions with a minimum impact on livestock productivity. This approach minimizes negative impacts on food production while preserving economic, social, and environmental sustainability of beef cattle farming. This collaborative project between national agricultural research institutes (NARI) is supported by breeders’ associations and other key stakeholders. Public-private partnerships and collaborative efforts will scale genetic evaluation for methane emissions as well as the use of lower methane emission genetics on commercial farms. Phenotypic and genomic data from approximately 7.000 animals will be made globally available. In synergy with other projects, it will be possible to increase the size of reference populations leading to an even greater impact on methane emissions mitigation. If you have questions about the Latin America project specifically, you can contact Elly Navajas, enavajas@inia.org.uy

For developing methane emission phenotyping platforms and reference populations, it is essential to upgrade methane emission recording equipment as well as standardize and coordinate the measurement of animals. Standardized protocols will be developed in collaboration with ICAR, and the criteria for selecting animals to be measured and genotyped will be established by the research team, including technicians from breeder associations. A critical component of the project involves genetic analyses, such as estimating genetic parameters for methane emission-related traits, validating breeding values in additional populations, and evaluating the impact of selecting for reduced methane emissions. Scientific collaboration will be fostered with other beef cattle projects, focusing on areas such as expertise exchange. Communication strategies will be implemented to engage stakeholders, including breeders, artificial insemination centers, policymakers, and other private stakeholders. Dialogue with teams managing greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will also be enhanced. These activities require active collaboration among countries and stakeholders in Latin America to achieve successful outcomes.

Main goals

• A Latin American collaborative network for accelerating genetic improvement for methane emissions reduction is established by NARIs, universities, breeder societies, and private stakeholders engaged in genetic evaluation programs across South America and Mexico.
• Methane emission phenotyping platforms are implemented, enabling data collection across key beef cattle breeds, targeting 7.000 methane emission phenotypes and genotypes of animals linked to genetic evaluations.
• Genomic-enhanced estimated breeding values for methane emissions will be available to breeders: based on pure-breed and multi-breed reference populations enhanced through collaboration and data sharing across beef cattle projects within the GMG initiative.
• The economic and environmental impact of breeding strategies to reduce methane emissions is assessed, to identify the most promising breeding strategies to accelerate methane emission reduction. The development of breeding objectives combining methane emission reduction with production goals will support policy and incentives for breeders and farmers to overcome adoption barriers and integrate the results into national GHG inventories.

Microbiome

The micro-HUB project will establish a reference population with metagenome and genotype data, and create a genomic evaluation system that can be used to select the parents of the next generation with microbiome profiles that produce less enteric methane while maintaining genetic progress in profit and health. The genomic evaluation system will be widely open, will target most relevant breeds and production systems. Furthermore, a large global microbiome network will be established to collect existing data and knowledge and ensure knowledge transfer.

This project will start with metagenome and genomic data on 5.430 individuals from the core project partners, we will explore the opportunity to extend and expand our reference population to other countries with suitable data. By combining national data sets with genotypes, microbiome and methane information, we aim to create the largest rumen microbiome reference population globally. We aim to enlarge the reference population by more than 20.000 microbiome sequenced dairy and beef cattle as well as sheep from the Global Methane Genetics (GMG) program. From this, we will facilitate the delivery of genomic breeding values that can be used in global breeding programs to select for a microbiome composition with lower emissions and reduce the abundance of methanogenic pathways in the rumen microbiome of future generations of cattle and sheep. The project partners cover beef, dairy and sheep populations and creates an opportunity to identify a core microbiome (or set of cores) that can be used as a reference for nation-based breeding programs. The project will closely connect to the other projects within the Global Methane Program, to facilitate microbiome sampling, sequencing and genomic analysis. If you have questions about the microbiome project specifically, you can contact Oscar Gonzalez-Recio, oscar.gonzalezrecio@ed.ac.uk

Activities

To enlarge the national database partners will obtain additional samples from animals with methane and genotype data from different breeds and production systems within the GMG phenotyping program (dairy and beef cattle). The inclusion of samples from external partners will be encouraged. Partners (also external) will be provided with instruction to collect data and sample rumen microbiome. The micro-Hub will provide stewardship for GMG partners regarding sampling, storage and shipping, as well as bioinformatic analysis. Rumen metagenome sequencing will be centralized in as fewer labs as possible (ideally only one).

Reference populations from partners will be combined, covering a broad range of breeds and productions systems and different geographical regions. Format of the databases will be unified. The combined dataset will be used for the microbiome genomic evaluations. The reference database will be updated with additional data coming from external partners.

We will develop the capabilities to estimate the genomic breeding value for microbiome composition for any genotyped animal in similar productive conditions as those represented in our reference population. The goal is to propose recommendations based on own experience to include estimated genomic breeding values for rumen microbiome profile in breeding programs.

The project will contribute to the activities organized within Global Methane Genetics and the ICAR Feed&Gas working group in building a microbiome network to exchange knowledge, harmonize guidelines and develop protocols. All data generated within the project will be made available through the Global Methane Genetics database. The project will collaborate with the database development to develop microbiome sharing requirements and specifications.

Main goals

• Joint reference metagenome compiled.
• Microbiome genomic evaluations.
• Release of SNP coefficients for international genomic evaluations for microbiome compositions.
• Network building and establishment of platform for rumen metagenome data.

DAFNE

Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences at the University of Tuscia. Their main purpose is to collect primary emissions data from sniffers and GF to have emissions factors related to the species, breed, physiological state and diet management. They are engaged with ANAFIBJ and sharing data related to Holstein cattle with them for genetic evaluations. Currently they are running trials with sheep and buffalo.

Sheep

For this trial they are comparing 2 grazing methods using 2 groups of Sopravissana sheep, reared at the facility.

1. Rotational, 18 sheep. Turns every 4 days on strip paddocks. 18 paddocks in total; 6 heads on 3 strip paddocks per turn of grazing. After 24 days the sheep are back to the first three strips.
2. Continuous, 18 sheep. Continuous grazing on same paddock. 3 paddocks in total; 6 heads per paddock.

Subgroups for both group A and B (6 heads) are randomly arranged every day. The 18 strip paddocks are the same total size as the three continuous paddocks. They have the same number of heads grazing and the same live weight load.

Both groups are balanced for BW, receive the same hay in quantity and quality with ad libitum access and spend the same time at pasture. Daily sampling of the hay and residual per group is done, weekly sub samples of hay and residual are analyzed. In parallel fresh grass is sampled and analyzed to represent the 2 grazing methods.

The GreenFeed is located in the barn, at 9AM this barn is closed for group A and opens for group B and this switches every day. The GreenFeed is the only place they can get concentrates. Nutritional information for this concentrate can be found here. Amount of food and cup drops can be found here.

Trial started end of March 2025 and will last 1.5 months. They are using the GF adapted for small ruminants.

Buffalo

This is a continuous trial which will last 4 months per supplement tested. First they monitor the buffalo for 4 weeks without supplement as a control diet and then there will be an 8 week experimental period with the supplement diet. During the entire period the buffalo are confined to the barn.

The buffalo are separated in two groups, in adjacent pens. One group has access to a milking robot, with the MooLogger from Tecnosens. The other pen has a conventional milking system and the GreenFeed is placed facing this pen.

All buffaloes are fed the same concentrates. Nutritional information for this concentrate can be found here. Amount of food and cup drops can be found here. The buffalo’s in the GF group get the concentrates from the GF and about 1 kg of concentrates during milking operations. The buffalo’s in the sniffer group only get concentrates from the milking robot, which is about 2 kg/head/day.

To account for the emissions recorded individually at different times, they compare the emissions data aggregated on a daily basis. They are using the GF adapted for large ruminants with horns

Presentation materials

Global Methane Genetics working groups

On the 15th of May 2025 the Working Group Dairy cattle met and shared their current progress, you can find the presentation slides here.

On the 20th of May 2025 the Working Sheep met and shared their current progress, you can find the presentation slides here.

On the 22th of May 2025 there was a webinar for all GMG project participants on effective records in the database, you can find the presentation slides here.

On the 23th of May 2025 the Working Group Microbiome met and shared their current progress, you can find the presentation slides here.

On the 5th of June 2025 the Working Group Latin America met and shared their current progress, you can find the presentation slides here.

On the 17th of June 2025 the Working Group Beef met and shared their current progress, you can find the presentation slides here.

On the 1th of July 2025 the Working Group Asia met and shared their current progress, you can find the presentation slides here.

Seminar by Julius van der Werf: Breeding for a changing climate 13-05-2025

On the 13th of May Julius van de Werf gave a presentation at Wageningen Livestock Research on selection indexes for selecting low methane livestock, focused on sheep. You can find the slides here. You can find the recording of the presentation below.

Seminar by Maria Frizzarin: Introduction to milk mid-infrared spectroscopy 10-07-2025

On the 10th of July Maria Frizzarin gave a presentation at Wageningen Livestock Research on milk mid-infrared spectroscopy, equations development, and applications. You can find the slides here.