Sarah Armstrong

Project Title:

Evaluating lifetime enteric methane emissions from the suckler beef herd

Overview

As part of the RumenVentory project, the aim of this PhD is to accurately quantify ‘lifetime’ enteric methane emissions from the suckler herd, including calves, weanlings, yearlings and suckler cows. There will also be a key focus on evaluating management strategies to reduce enteric methane emissions, including pasture type, silage quality, feed regimes, and animal genetics. The results from these experiments will be collated and combined with data from historic and ongoing experiments to generate the first large scale methane database for ruminant livestock in Ireland. This database will be used to generate country specific methane emission factors whilst allowing for more proactive decisions on how the suckler herd can improve breeding and management practices to mitigate methane.

Sarah is a Sustainable Agriculture graduate from Dundalk Institute of Technology/Ballyhaise Agricultural College. From a Suckler beef background in County Cavan, she has spent some time working in America and New Zealand on large scale dairy farms as well as working in Ballyhaise Agricultural College as a college lecturer delivering classes to Level 6 and Level 8 students. 

Programme Area: Animal and Grassland Research Innovation

Supervisors: Peter Doyle and Alan Kelly

Funding Source: DAFM