Sustainability from the cradle

Brazilian beef cattle farming has undergone a journey of evolution in terms of efficiency over the past two decades. Between 2004 and 2024, the average carcass weight increased by 15%, reaching approximately 33 kg more per animal, as reported by Rafael Ribeiro de Lima Filho, technical advisor for the National Beef Cattle Commission, in an interview with Agência Folha Press.

The gain in efficiency reduces the intensity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per kilogram of meat produced – a topic of increasing relevance in a market pressured by climate commitments, and it also translates into risk mitigation, including financial risks.

An article published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, in which researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) discuss the need for the production chain to adopt emission mitigation practices, shows that sustainable production in cattle farming would avoid costs stemming from climate effects in the range of US$18.8 billion to US$42.6 billion by 2030.

The leap in productivity is the result of investments in feeding management and the integration of production systems, but also of genetic improvement, which allows animals to gain more weight in less time.

A matter of DNA: more weight in less time

Carcass weight is a key productivity indicator because it translates how much meat is obtained from each animal. In the Brazilian average, this weight jumped from about 220 kg in 2004 to over 250 kg in 2024. The trend is confirmed by the Beef Report 2025, produced by the Brazilian Association of Meat Exporting Industries (Abiec), which points to male carcasses of almost 295 kg.1 Beef Report 2025 Abiec

This advance has the contribution of genetic improvement programs that select animals with higher merit for weight gain, fertility, and feed efficiency, combined with precision nutrition and the increasing use of artificial insemination.

The most visible result of this selection is precocity: cattle with superior genetics reach slaughter weight earlier. The study “Farm for a better future,” published by the Irish Food and Agricultural Development Authority, shows that reducing the age at slaughter decreases the time the animal produces methane in the rumen, the main gas emitted by cattle. With just three months of reduction (from 27 to 24 months), more than 19 kg of methane are no longer emitted per animal. The same document highlights that animals selected for rapid growth and feed efficiency show 30% less residual methane emissions compared to their contemporaries, without losing productivity.

Feed efficiency: eating better to emit less

Another pillar of genetic improvement is feed efficiency, measured by residual feed intake (RFI), which compares how much an animal eats and how much it actually needs to grow.

Animals with low RFI ingest less feed to produce the same kilogram of meat, which reduces enteric fermentation and, therefore, methane emissions per unit of product. The guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasize that more energetic diets and more efficient animals reduce methane emissions per kilogram of meat, even if daily emissions per animal may increase. The same work indicates that reducing the age at slaughter is one of the most effective strategies to decrease GHG emissions per kilogram of product.

Field experiences reinforce this concept. With the aim of selecting bulls that combine high performance with low emissions, creating more efficient genetic lines, Embrapa Pecuária Sul, through the Gas Emission Test (PEG) program, developed a methodology to measure methane production in sires of the Angus, Braford, Charolais, and Hereford breeds. The program measured the volume of methane emitted per animal and calculated the emissions per kilogram of feed consumed and per kilogram of live weight gained, preliminarily concluding that “the emissions of bulls from beef cattle breeds are lower than those recommended by the IPCC (Eggleston et al., 2006),” suggesting that genetics can reduce emissions beyond what is expected by international inventories.

In integrated crop-livestock-forest systems (ILPF), increased productivity also reduces the carbon footprint. A survey by the Clean Air Task Force indicates that when the fattening period is shortened and stocking density per area increases, methane intensity per kilogram of live weight drops by about 42%. Faster weight gain dilutes emissions over the animal’s lifetime and allows fewer heads to produce the same amount of meat.

Selection for low methane: the new frontier of genetics

While the historical focus has been on growth and efficiency, low methane emission traits are beginning to be included in genetic indices. Studies in New Zealand sheep demonstrate that methane emission is a heritable trait, with heritability between 0.13 and 0.29. By selecting sires with lower emissions per kilogram of dry matter ingested, New Zealand programs have achieved 12% reductions in methane yield in just two generations, without performance loss. This example shows that targeted selection has a cumulative and permanent effect.

A 2024 study by ClimateXChange, a research center of the Scottish government, estimates that the adoption of breeding programs aimed at reducing methane could cut up to 9.5% of the enteric emissions from the British herd by 2045. For beef cattle, the projected reduction is 6.8%, based on selecting more efficient animals with lower production and greater dilution of emissions per kilogram of carcass. The study highlights that selecting for feed efficiency is a practice already known to producers and can be incorporated into genetic programs.

In Brazil, Embrapa has advanced in this direction by installing measurement equipment in experimental herds, which allows for the evaluation of bulls for efficiency and emissions. As more data is collected, it will be possible to include the “low methane” index in national breeding programs. This strategy, combined with selection for weight gain and fertility, creates a herd that grows fast, converts better, and emits less.

Sustainability as an Economic Imperative

Although reducing emissions per kilogram of meat is a technical and economic challenge, the results obtained so far demonstrate that it is possible to reconcile productivity and sustainability.

Increasing carcass weight, reducing age at slaughter, selecting for feed efficiency, and introducing low methane emission traits form a set of actions that, when combined, reduce the intensity of emissions per kilogram of meat. More than that: they reflect on the country’s economy and its global competitiveness in an increasingly demanding scenario.

The modernization of pastures and the increase in carcass weight have allowed Brazil to expand meat production without expanding pasture area.

In 2024, the country exported 2.89 million tons of beef, reaching revenue of US$12.8 billion. A significant portion of this advance stems from the intensification and precocity of the herd.

Expanding measurement and selection programs, encouraging the adoption of integrated systems, and communicating to consumers, investors, and the world that modern cattle farming is constantly evolving are fundamental steps towards increasingly sustainable and competitive beef.

Reference sources:

Sustainability from the cradle

A matter of DNA: more weight in less time

Feed efficiency: eating better to emit less

Selection for low methane: the new frontier of genetics

Sustainability as an Economic Imperative

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