Wednesday, 01 March 2023 17:00

Silver bullet

Written by Milking It

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OPINION: The race to find the silver bullet and reduce methane emissions in cows is on.

By 2025, capsules delivering a methane-inhibiting substance into the stomachs of livestock could significantly reduce the country's greenhouse footprint.

That's the goal of Waikato-based Ruminant BioTech. Repurposing the slow-release pills used to deliver medicines to livestock, the start-up created a proprietary capsule that it says reduced cattle-made methane by 90% for months.

Although the trials are at an early stage and haven't been published, the start-up said its goal now was to deliver a commercially viable product that can cut methane by 70% over six months.

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