Managing carbon in livestock systems: modelling options for net carbon balance (CSIRO)

Summary

​A model was developed for estimating methane emissions in northern Australia. Modelling work conducted in this project build on existing modelling the research group had been associated with as part of the National Carbon Accounting Toolkit. Funding for this program was terminated before the work was completed. The current project developed a standalone animal model that predicted herd methane emissions based on the characteristics of the animal and the pasture. The model was run using data from the Lansdown Research Station. These data included herd and pasture characteristics including a comprehensive dataset of pasture quality over the season. Results demonstrated that methane values were within the expected range and that daily emissions were insensitive to changes in management but emissions intensity was highly sensitive to changes in management. In addition the same data was forwarded to Hutton Oddy for inclusion in a data fusion exercise involving a number of demonstration sites across Australia.​