Beef finisher’s carbon efficiency worth 107 trees an animal

A beef finisher who is achieving a days-to-slaughter figure that is 32% lower than the factory average is questioning why there is no subsidy reward for the 107 trees’ worth of carbon saved by every carcass sold.

An anonymous integrated dairy beef system has revealed feedlot performance data to Farmers Weekly showing a saving of 269 days an animal and an extra 0.12kg of deadweight gain a day (see “Performance compared with slaughterhouse average”).

For every kilogram of beef produced, this equates to about 6kg of carbon dioxide equivalent compared with a typical finishing system, beef sustainability expert Prof Jude Capper of Harper Adams University told Farmers Weekly.

See also: How carbon auditing is improving beef performance

Jude said every 333kg carcass the unit produces is the same as planting 107 trees or taking 1.1 cars off the road for a year, according to early numbers coming from the ABP Prism 2030 project.

Reasons behind the efficiency

The finisher believes the efficiencies are a result of the following factors:

• Good colostrum protocols and respiratory vaccinations
• Cattle arrive at four months old (140-150kg) and are then on the same farm, in the same social group, for the rest of their lives
• Rumen stability is promoted and acidosis minimised by a total mixed ration
• High-index sires are selected for a balance of growth and calving attributes to suit both the dairy farm and beef unit
• Cattle are given sufficient feed space and trough access.

Carbon savings

The finisher queried why this carbon saving of almost 2t/carcass was not being rewarded through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), adding: “If carbon is worth £50/t, that is worth £100 to the processor in lower emissions.

“If you multiply the 107 trees by the 4,885 cattle we sold last year, we get to 522,695 trees. What would that be worth if I planted them through SFI?”