Biochar's Use-Cases in Livestock Systems

As biochar continues to gain steam as an additional and permanent carbon dioxide removal (CDR) instrument, novel commercial opportunities will emerge for both the creation of the material and in it's end-use that will benefit livestock production. Created by the slow pyrolization of biomass and other organic feedstocks, biochar has seen tremendous uptake in the Voluntary Carbon Markets. Studies both in the United States and Europe have found that use of biochar, both in intensive and extensive livestock systems may yield several benefits and tangible results:

• Use as a feed additive to inhibit enteric methane emissions, promote animal & rumen health, and improve disease/pest resistance.
• Pathogen abatement in housing and pen environments (milk barns, feedlots, dry lots, etc). Biochar has applications for dairy cow bedding, can be spread over feedlot manure pits to minimize ammonia, and can remove toxins and pollutants from manure, wastewater, and effluent systems.
• Use as soil amendments to improve soil health and SOC accrual.

A 2019 metanalysis of Biochar examined 112 scientific studies, the paper found that "that the use of biochar as a feed additive has the potential to improve animal health, feed efficiency and livestock housing climate, to reduce nutrient losses and greenhouse gas emissions, and to increase the soil organic matter content and thus soil fertility when eventually applied to soil. In combination with other good practices, co-feeding of biochar may thus have the potential to improve the sustainability of animal husbandry."

For example, in beef systems, research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with the USDA Forest Service has examined biochar's use in confined feedlot systems to treat manure as well as the animal performance effects on average daily gain, carcass weight, etc as a feed supplement. Research in Tasmania, has examined producer perspectives on its use as well as best-practices to distribute biochar supplements to grazing cattle such as in tubs, mineral troughs, or combined with molasses or other salt blocks. To share these findings, Dr. Matthew Harrison and his team of researchers and partner collaborators delivered a webinar titled "Operationalizing Net Zero with Biochar" in late 2023 where all this work was presented https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PFALaN7RMg.

As for dairy systems, biochar has multiple entry points. Similar to beef systems, It can be used to increase cow comfort in stalls, as a promoter of gut health, and in lagoon management and composting - all critical interventions that drive profitability.

However, to scale these interventions consistent policy support is key. Gretchen Kroh, PhD at Carbon180 recently developed several key recommendations (https://carbon180.org/blog/how-policymakers-can-turn-up-the-heat-on-biochar/) of policy and research funding support needed at the federal level, particularly from the USDA to scale its use in agro-industrial production chains. Efforts too to mainstream biochar by the US Biochar Initiative and US Biochar Coalition (USBC) will help keep the ball moving forward in DC. For use as a feed additive, a new regulatory environment provided by the FDA will be key for its formal use in livestock feeding systems. For a more thorough VCM and regulatory policy compliance perspective, Astrika Adams detailed her findings here - https://www.bdlaw.com/publications/demand-heats-up-for-biochar-carbon-projects/.

Future research focusing on the production of biochar using different feedstocks, cost / benefit analyses, dosage rates, and other economic studies will help the overall space. If all this coalesces, it will help in promoting localized circular agro-industrial economies that up-cycle forestry and agricultural by-products and help with climate mitigation.

Sources:

https://www.arti.com/biochar-for-animal-feed/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10643389.2020.1721980

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PFALaN7RMg

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6679646/