While many Americans were enjoying U.S. Thanksgiving late in 2024 and the official kickoff to the December holidays, food and culture arguments were raging across the pond. Consumers, farmers and influencers were bashing Arla Foods’ use of 3-NOP (under the brand name Bovaer) in milk production. The key questions that emerged: Do we really need to worry about methane emissions from cattle, and if so, is Bovaer a safe way to chip away at those emissions?
Whether or not you subscribe to the ability of essential oils to ease your stress, lighten your mood or give you a feeling of calm, it’s worth taking a look at how some of them are being used as feed additives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions of cattle. A team at University of California, Davis, under the leadership of Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., published a paper in October 2020, studying Agolin® Ruminant (AGO) and its ability to do just that. The Mitloehner Lab found an 11 percent reduction in methane intensity.
Mitloehner lab Ph.D. student Angelica Carrazco, M.S. explains how additives work in the digestive systems of cattle, the types of additives are there and how much each can reduce enteric methane emissions.
