Assessing the impact of conservation grazing on GHG emissions
Background
Conservation grazing is the maintenance of semi-natural habitats through the grazing of livestock. Grazing by cattle, sheep and ponies, plus novel species such as bison and water buffalo, helps prevent the growth of scrub and woodland in open areas. This grazing enables a wider variety of flora and fauna to thrive.
Livestock however also produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This presents a sustainable management challenge, with land managers trying to balance the biodiversity benefits with climate emissions.
Actions taken
This project sought to calculate GHG emissions resulting from conservation grazing and understand the impact of using different livestock species and stocking densities. ADAS set out to answer three key research questions:
- Which livestock species has the lowest emissions per livestock unit?
- How does size (as a proxy for breed) impact on emissions per livestock unit?
- When grazed at low stocking rates, how do the emissions compare to the potential removals that the habitat can deliver when well managed?
Results
Using existing data on livestock emissions, ADAS created an Excel-based model that provided estimated GHG emissions for different grazing patterns (species, breed size, density) on a range of different habitats. This means that land managers can input their desired grazing scenario into the model and get estimates of GHG emissions for their chosen livestock.
ADAS then tested the model on three different grazing scenarios.
The paper was published in February 2024 on the Natural England website.
A major finding from building the tool was the significant evidence and data gaps exist in this research field. Further research was needed to fill these data gaps and to provide a more robust dataset for the tool.
