Could beef cattle soon be fed a methane-reducing pill? Photo / RNZ, Susan Murray
By Monique Steele of RNZ
Industry-Government venture AgriZeroNZ is hinting that New Zealand beef may be the first agricultural sector to gain access to tools like a new methane-reducing pill for livestock – and soon.
Ruminant BioTech has been developing a slow-release bolus, or pill, to be fed to livestock.
Recent trials on New Zealand farms resulted in a reduction of methane emissions.
It was one of AgriZero’s 10 investments towards reducing agricultural emissions.
AgriZeroNZ first invested $1.8 million into Ruminant BioTech’s product in April 2023, followed by $4m to accelerate its commercialisation in August.
AgriZeroNZ chief executive Wayne McNee said the company was planning a limited release for beef cattle, once it was approved by the regulator.
McNee said Ruminant BioTech was likely to be the first of these products in the market.
“It’s a bolus many of you will have heard of, containing bromoform.
“The benefit of a bolus, obviously, is that you can administer it once, it lasts for at least 100 days and reduces methane by 70% or so over that period.
“And the current thinking is to probably administer one of these [boluses] to an animal during its lifetime and you average out the benefit of that over the period of that beef animal’s life.”
Ruminant BioTech’s bolus won a prototype category innovation award at Fieldays near Hamilton in June.
Ruminant BioTech’s bolus contained Tribromomethane (bromoform), a chemical compound that could be found in marine algae, phytoplankton or as a byproduct of chlorinated drinking water.
It applied to register trade names for two products, the “Calm A Cattle Bolus” last September and “Emitless” in May.
Department of Internal Affairs information showed Emitless was a 172g oral bolus containing 48g of Tribromomethane. Users were instructed not to use the product in cattle intended for reproduction, or in cattle intended to produce milk for human consumption – whereas Calm A Cattle Bolus was a 165g bolus containing 36g of Tribromomethane, intended to reduce enteric methane emissions in cattle for up to four months.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Authority said it determined that the inhibitor – containing 50-70% tribromomethane as the active ingredient – fit within the scope of the veterinary medicines group standard, under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996), and did not require an individual approval.
Before the product could be used in New Zealand, though, it would require registration under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act (1997), which was administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said it had received and was assessing the application for registering Ruminant BioTech’s “Emitless” product.
Arbuckle said the product was an intraruminal bolus for reducing enteric methane in cattle weighing between 350kg and 450kg for up to four months.
McNee said it expected a result from the regulator soon.
“It’s going through regulatory process at the moment and hoping to be available later this year or, worst case, early next year,” he said.
“Certainly by next year and over the next few years, we’ll see one or two products, maybe three products come into the market each year.
“That’s what the companies are telling us.”
McNee said that in future, farmers will have a range of emissions-reduction tools to choose from.
“If there’s a productivity improvement, it may be relatively straightforward to get uptake,” he said.
“But in other cases, if it’s pure methane reduction, then at the end of the day, somebody’s going to have to pay for that.
“There are a number of processors, certainly the ones that have invested in us, who are talking with companies offshore to look at the potential to provide incentives to farmers to take up those tools.”
Also speaking at the red meat sector conference in Christchurch this month, Dr John Roche, the chief science advisor for the Prime Minister and the Ministry for Primary Industries, said progress had accelerated.
“Incredibly exciting,” Roche said.
“I’ve sat in front of select committee[s] [at Parliament] for the last several years talking about these technologies, and I kid you not, two or three years ago I was promising I’m reasonably confident they’ll be here by 2030.
“Two years later, I’m saying we will have a bolus that reduces methane by 70% in dry stock, slow-release over 120 days and it will be released either later this year or early next year.
“These technologies are coming fast and more of them are becoming available.”
Company records showed Ruminant BioTech Corp’s main shareholders were Rosrain Investments, which owned 44% of the business.
It had two company directors from New Zealand and two from Australia.
Other backers included New Zealand Trustee Services, Crown Terrace Investments and New Zealand Green Investment Finance. The latter is a government fund towards low-emissions projects that the Government announced in April that it will shut down.
– RNZ