REducing Methane emissions in DAnish DAiry Cattle (REMEDA)

The overall purpose of the project is to implement a breeding value assessment for enteric methane in dairy cattle. An automated pipeline must be developed that can efficiently filter and clean the significant amounts of methane sniffer data collected daily from cattle farms. In addition, the project will define methane phenotypes and estimate correlations with feed efficiency and energy balance on the basis of Danish data, supported by data from an international database.

In the project, a model will also be developed to define a methane proxy phenotype on the basis of the milk's infrared spectra (MIR). This enables a methane phenotype to be defined for all dairy cows included in the Danish performance control. Breeding values ​​will be estimated on the basis of the new methane phenotypes, and correlations calculated for the traits included in the Nordic total merit (NTM) breeding index.

The project will contribute to the automation of the processing of methane data from sniffers, a better understanding of the connection between cows' methane emission, energy balance, and other characteristics in the NTM breeding index, as well as result in a validation of a prediction model for methane based on MIR data. The improved data and models will be included in the implementation of a methane sub-index for Danish dairy cows in the NTM breeding index.