Environmental indexes

Enteric methane emissions (generated from cows belching) and urinary nitrogen excretion from cattle are two of the major contributors to the environmental impact of agriculture in New Zealand but it’s extremely difficult to measure actual emissions and excretions from cattle in pasture-based systems.

To quantify the expected emissions and excretions of our artificial breeding bulls we developed the

HoofPrint® and BeefPrint® indexes.

These 10-point ranking systems enable farmers to select bulls based on their predicted ability to generate offspring with a lower environmental impact - the higher the score, the more environmentally efficient they are.

The index ranks animals on their lifetime urinary nitrogen and enteric methane per kg of milksolids production.

The index uses an individual animal’s genetic data (production, reproduction and survival traits) and calculations from NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Inventory.

BeefPrint®

The BeefPrint index is based on the same methodology as HoofPrint, but provides farmers with an indication of the predicted environmental footprint of growing a beef bull’s progeny to sell as prime beef (relative to other beef genetic products).

The index ranks animals on their lifetime urinary nitrogen and enteric methane per kg of beef produced.