50 Optimizing grass-fed beef: Enhanced grazing strategies and their impact on carcass quality and methane emissions.

Summary

This paper investigates how optimised grazing management strategies can simultaneously improve carcass quality outcomes and reduce enteric methane emissions in grass-fed beef production systems. By evaluating enhanced grazing protocols — potentially including rotational or adaptive approaches — the study addresses the dual challenge of producing high-quality beef whilst mitigating the environmental footprint of pasture-based systems. The work contributes to an evidence base supporting the feasibility of climate-conscious grass-fed beef production without compromising product quality.

UK applicability

Whilst the study is likely based in the United States, its findings are broadly applicable to UK grass-fed beef systems, where similar tensions between carcass performance and methane reduction are central to both farm profitability and net-zero commitments under UK agricultural policy.

Key measures

Carcass weight; dressing percentage; fat depth; ribeye area; methane emissions (g/day or CO₂ equivalents); average daily gain

Outcomes reported

The study likely measured carcass quality parameters (such as dressing percentage, fat cover, and meat yield) alongside enteric methane emissions under different grazing management strategies for grass-fed beef cattle. It may have compared approaches such as rotational, adaptive multi-paddock, or strip grazing relative to continuous or conventional grazing systems.

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