Breeding for Lower Methane: What a Bull Buyer Can Do Today

You will hear it at a sale barn or read it in a magazine: someone is breeding cattle that put out less methane. Fine. Let us figure out what is real, what is still a lab project, and what you should do when you are standing at a bull sale with a checkbook.

What the researchers have actually done

In Australia, a project called Low Methane Beef, run by the University of New England with state government and industry money, started measuring methane from cattle in 2022. Beef Central reported the animals include Angus steers, measured with GreenFeed units that sample the gas an animal gives off while it eats a small ration. The same report says methane is being studied next to growth, fertility, feed intake and carcass quality.

Later, another report said about 5,000 animals had been measured and that the project released early genomic research values. Those values apply to animals inside the project herds. They only become standard breeding values after a full evaluation system is built. No numbers on what it does to growth or feed efficiency were published in that report.

So here is the honest answer. A low-methane bull is not something you can order from a catalog today. Anybody who says otherwise is selling something.

The rule that never changes

A bull is half your calf crop every year, and you cannot fix a mistake in one season. Every trait you chase pulls on another. Push hard on any single number and something else gives, usually calving ease, fertility or structure. Researchers know this, which is why they study methane alongside the traits that pay the bills.

If you are new to the buying side, work through our bull buying checklist before sale day. Pick the bull for the job you need first: calving ease on heifers, growth on terminal matings, maternal strength if you keep daughters.

What you can do right now

Here is the useful part. Methane is tied to how much a steer eats and how well he turns it into gain. An animal that grows on less feed and a cow that breeds back every year both put out less methane for each pound of beef, and they also make you money. You can select for that today with tools already on the market.

• Buy on efficiency and fertility. Look at growth, maternal and carcass figures together, not one at a time.
• Buy from herds that record. A seller with years of weights, calving records and carcass data has bulls with numbers you can trust.
• Ask for accuracy. A young bull with a high number and low accuracy is a gamble. Genomic testing tightens it up.
• Keep your own records. You will need them if a methane value ever shows up in a program you want to join.

Walk the pens with your own list. Check feet, legs, testicle development and temperament before you ever open the catalog numbers. A bull that cannot travel or breed does nothing for your methane numbers or your bank account. Get a breeding soundness exam before turnout, and keep the report with your records.

If a seller pushes a green bull

Ask three questions. What exactly is the number? How was it measured? How accurate is it? If he cannot answer in plain words, thank him and walk on. A real tool will have a source, an accuracy figure and a track record. A sales pitch will have a slogan.

Also keep in mind that sustainability programs and premiums are still developing. Nobody should pay a premium for a promise. The University of Nebraska beef program posts independent breeding and management material that is worth a look before you spend big on genetics.

Think about how this plays out on your own place. Say you keep daughters from a bull you bought this year. Those heifers calve in two or three years and their calves hit the market a year after that. A mistake in bull selection can follow you for a decade. So when a new trait shows up, wait for it to be proven, and do not trade away fertility, soundness or calving ease for a number nobody has tested on a commercial herd like yours.

The same goes for price. A trait with real economic value shows up eventually in what buyers pay. Until a premium exists, treat methane selection as a side benefit of efficient cattle, not a reason to pay extra for a bull.

The long game

Selection pays slowly but it never goes away, and that is why researchers care about it. If methane values prove reliable, the herds with good records and tested animals will be first in line to use them. If they do not, you still built a better cow herd. Either way, the work you put in on records and honest selection is not wasted.

For more on picking sound genetics, farm.fm's page on understanding bulls is a good plain read, and agriculture.directory is handy for finding breeders and services. Check current releases from your breed association before relying on any new trait. This site is independent and is not affiliated with Certified Angus Beef or the American Angus Association.