Cow methane proves powerful enough to propel rocket engine
Plus, 2.0 version of promising methane-inhibiting feed additive to enter trials in 2024
Japanese researchers recently successfully tested a rocket engine powered with liquified biomethane produced by cows. The researchers hope to be able to use the rocket by 2025 to launch payloads into low earth orbit. The engine would be used to power a rocket about 100 feet long and 7.5 feet wide with a payload capable of putting a small satellite into orbit.
Check out the video of the engine in operation here.
Afimilk (Sponsor)
Cow Monitoring for Higher Conception, Better Health
Hear how one dairy leverages technology to maintain a high conception rate and limit the impact of disease.
Rumen bolus companies in the news
SmaXtec was recently featured in the online publication TechBrew. The technology is pushing the boundaries of what farmers have typically thought is possible for detecting subclinical illness and the speed at which they can respond preemptively. Read more here.
Meanwhile, Cattle Scan recently won a $250,000 prize at the 2023 Grow-NY Global Food and Ag Summit business competition. Also winning an award in the competition was SomaDetect. Their award was even larger ($500,000). Learn more about the competition here.
Supreme International (Sponsor)
Supreme International is the first company in North America to
manufacture the vertical feed processor and is recognized as the best
TMR processor in the world. Learn more here.
Researchers race to the scene of cattle outbreaks in retrofitted ambulance
Researchers in Canada have retrofitted an ambulance into a DNA detection lab with the hopes of helping Canadian beef feed lots trace the cause of disease outbreaks using onsite DNA analysis. Read more about their technology and how they have taken what used to require a fixed laboratory space to hold their technology and put it into a mobile response unit.
2.0 version of promising methane-inhibiting feed additive to enter trials in 2024
Mootral recently announced it has found a way to enhance its enteric methane reducing potential with patented new technology. The company is currently selling into the market with its Mootral Enterix product – a blend of garlic and citrus extract. That product claims a reduction in methane emissions up to 38 percent.
The 2.0 version of the product will incorporate iodoform into the product mix and could increase methane inhibition up to 60 percent. That product may be ready to come to market in 2026.
Read more about the product research updates here.
Tech helps grazing dairies reduce nitrogen losses
Researchers say a leg band with an acoustic sensor that straps to a cow’s rear leg can determine when and how much she urinates. The technology could help grazing dairies increase their sustainability by determining which cows urinate more frequently and in smaller quantities per day. More frequent urination and lower volume per urination tends to represent a lower risk to the environment from nitrogen of loading soils, researchers say. Nitrogen-loaded soils are more likely to lead leaching nitrogen into waterways during runoff events.
Read more here.
Dairy profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for the next 12 months for two dairy herd sizes INCREASED in recent profit projections from ZISK.
ZISK is a profit-projection smartphone app that tracks individual dairy farm profitability based on current CME board prices. Projections for a 1,000-cow dairy producing an average of 80 pounds of milk per cow and a 2,500-cow dairy producing an average of 85 pounds of milk per cow are provided.
12-month dairy farm profit projections (as of Dec. 14, 2023):
1,000-cow dairy = $270,600 (UP about $62,500 in the last week)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.332 million (UP about $45,000 in the last two weeks)