Beef × dairy crossbred cattle are an important source of feeder cattle for the U.S. beef industry, but questions remain about how this system affects greenhouse gas emissions and the overall carbon footprint of beef production. Recent research by Matthew Beck and colleagues in the Journal of Animal Science (https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf446) evaluated the carbon footprint of beef and beef × dairy steers grown under two common systems — yearling-fed , where calves are grown on pasture in a stocker program prior to finishing or calf-fed, where calves are placed on feed without a pre-finishing growing program.
This study estimated greenhouse gas emissions during the growing and finishing phases of production using data from the OSU Klemme Range Research Station near Bessie, Oklahoma and Buffalo Feeders LLC, a commercial feedlot operations in Buffalo, Oklahoma.
Results showed that yearling-fed steers which underwent a stocker phase on pasture had a higher carbon footprint than calf-fed steers. Yearling-fed steers had a greater carbon footprint than calf-fed steers (4.6% and 11.3% greater for the beef × dairy and 11.3% greater for beef yearlings compared with calf-feds). The increase was largely due to higher methane and nitrous oxide emissions associated with grazing systems.
When only the growing and finishing phases were considered, beef × dairy crossbred steers also had a higher carbon footprint than beef steers. Compared with beef steers, beef × dairy steers produced 11.7% greater carbon footprint when calf-fed and 3.8% greater when yearling-fed. These differences reflect variations in intake, growth performance, and efficiency between cattle types.
The current results support our hypothesis, that beef × dairy steers have a greater carbon footprint compared to beef steers when only GHG emissions from growing through slaughter are considered. When emissions from the dam are included, the conclusions change. Because the dairy cow’s primary product is milk for human consumption, beef × dairy steer production systems are predicted to have a lower overall carbon footprint than beef steer production systems because only a portion of the dairy cow’s lifetime emissions are assigned to beef production, while all emissions from a beef cow are attributed solely to beef.
These findings highlight that production system and how emissions are accounted for strongly influence sustainability conclusions. Future research that more completely accounts for dam emissions will be critical for accurately evaluating their environmental footprint.
This work was supported in part by the intramural research program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARES) Award No. 2022-68008-37102.
