Cow of the Future

A dairy cow’s rumen allows her to digest the high-fiber feed necessary for milk production, but also causes her to produce enteric methane gas. Enteric methane is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with milk production.

The dairy industry has made great strides in reducing GHG emissions on the farm. The Cow of the Future project seeks scientifically sound, economically viable and socially responsible ways of reducing enteric methane emissions through improvements in dairy cow nutrition, genetics and health.

Project Goal: The Cow of the Future project aims to reduce GHG emissions for fluid milk by 600,000 metric tons through the adoption of existing technologies and practices and research into new opportunities.

Get Involved

Learn more:

Cow of the Future White Paper
Learn more about the eight categories of research priorities which have the greatest potential to improve farm profitability while improving environmental impact through the Cow of the Future white paper.

GHG Project Focuses on Energetic Methane
Read about increasing the sustainability of the dairy industry — economically, environmentally and socially — one of six priorities the dairy industry is addressing cooperatively through the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

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Innovation Center Partners

Research Priorities

Enabling opportunities

Rumen microbial genomics and ecology
Methane measurement techniques
Modeling efforts to quantitatively integrate knowledge from these areas

Direct impact opportunities

Rumen function and modifiers
Enhancing feed quality and feed ingredient usage to improve digestibility and feed efficiency
Genetic and management approaches to increase individual cow productivity
Management of herd structure to reduce number of cow-days of non-productive animals

What the experts say

“Our research initiatives have the potential to discover new scientific strategies to help mitigate GHG emissions. We are optimistic that these strategies, once identified and implemented, could lead to a long-term reduction in GHG emissions from dairy herds worldwide.”

William Wailes, head of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University