Methane emissions of extensive grazing breeding herds in relation to the weaning and yearling stages in the Eastern Plains of Colombia

Abstract

A substantial proportion of beef production in Colombia originates in its extensiveEastern Plains. However, in this scenario and in a global context, demand for cattleproduction increasingly requests that it satisfies social and environmental expectationsin addition to being economically efficient. A dataset containing five-year long recordsof cow-calf production systems collected at Carimagua Research Centre located in theMeta Department was retrospectively interrogated to understand the liveweight (LW)-derived flux matrix dynamics of methane (CH4) emissions. Estimated total CH4 (kg)emissions during the gestation period, were similar between conventional weaned (CW;37.86 ± 0.506 kg) and early weaned (EW; 37.47 ± 0.476 kg) cows. However, averagedover two lactations, total CH4 emissions were larger (p < 0.0001) in CW cows (38.67± 0.456 kg) than in their EW (14.40 ± 0.435 kg) counterparts. Total gas emissionsfrom birth to comparable commercial yearlings age were higher (p < 0.0001) for CW(43.11 ± 0.498 kg) calves than for EW (40.27 ± 0.472 kg) calves. It was concluded thatmid and long-term pastoral datasets and new concerns are well suited to understanddifferent contexts and adaptations to the contemporary weather conditions. Nevertheless,conventional farming systems will be less environmentally vulnerable if EWmanagement practices involve the strategic and temporal use of improved pastures. Theroles of veterinary medicine and animal sciences are briefly discussed in the context ofunprecedented climate variability to provide a guide to the uncertain future.