Elanco Animal Health is making significant progress on its four-pillar livestock sustainability strategy, delivering new innovations to producers as well as advocating and changing the narrative on cattle from climate culprit to part of a sustainability solution for producers seeking to lower emissions.
As part of this effort, Elanco has been working to expand access to innovations that can reduce livestock’s environmental footprint. Most recently, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved three combination clearances of Experior and MGA in finishing heifers. Experior is the first FDA-approved product with a gas emissions claim to help reduce ammonia gas emissions per pound of live weight and hot carcass weight for beef steers and heifers fed in confinement. When fed at the approved dose and duration, Experior reduces ammonia gas emissions up to an estimated 16%, according to clinical research studies.[ii] This approval for combination feeding in heifers provides cattle feeders with greater flexibility and additional options to improve environmental stewardship.
“Every day, feedyard operators must balance environmental stewardship with economic sustainability and business results,” says Katie Cook, Vice President, Livestock Sustainability and U.S. Farm Animal Marketing. “Research with U.S. feedlot managers and nutritionists confirmed that a combination approval of Experior and MGA would drive them to use Experior as part of their feeding regimen for heifers.[iii]
These combination feeding approvals offer beef producers greater flexibility and more options so that they don’t have to choose between the benefits of Experior’s ammonia suppression and the performance attributes tied to MGA. They can feel confident in feeding a combination of products that best fit their business models, while working towards their sustainability goals.”
Nearly 40% of the cattle on feed inventory in the United States is finishing heifers[iv], making this a sizable opportunity for more producers to utilize Experior. The FDA has approved combination feeding of:
- Experior and MGA
- Experior, Rumensin and MGA
- Experior, Rumensin, Tylan Premix and MGA
The combination approval with Rumensin, a product trusted for more than 45 years, opens more opportunities for beef producers to advance environmental sustainability efforts. Rumensin can help beef producers improve efficiency by reducing the total natural resources needed to feed cattle which in turn reduces emission intensity. Rumensin’s mode of action for feed efficiency impacts the emission of methane. Published research shows feeding Rumensin’s can decrease methane emissions approximately 10-15% in a beef animal.[v]
In 2023, Elanco’s U.S. dairy and beef customers avoided an estimated 2.3 million metric tons of GHG emissions (CO2e) using Rumensin. Cumulatively, between 2020 and 2023, they’ve avoided an estimated 9.5 million metric tons using Rumensin—the equivalent to taking more than 2.2 million passenger cars off the road for a year.[vi]
Changing the Narrative: Livestock Can Be Part of the Sustainability Solution
By utilizing new innovations that improve environmental sustainability and then sharing these stories with governments, stakeholders and others around the world, the livestock industry is making an impact and changing the narrative from cattle as the culprit to the cow as part of a sustainability solution for producers seeking to lower emissions. Over the past year, Elanco has invested in taking this story to unexpected places to advocate on behalf of livestock producers.
This month, Elanco leaders will take the global stage at COP29, the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, in Baku, Azerbaijan, which is expected to draw more than 32,000 people from around the world to discuss opportunities for combating climate change worldwide. Elanco will be part of several events, including a panel discussion with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) Pavillion, discussing how livestock play an important a role in a sustainable future.
Elanco’s COP29 presence follows several other successful advocacy events this year, including:
- South by Southwest (SXSW) Austin, TX
- New York City Climate Week
- Reuters Transform Food Summit
Earlier this year, Elanco launched a LinkedIn newsletter called Shared Table, featuring Jeff Simmons, President and CEO of Elanco, sitting down with thought-leaders in animal health to examine some of the challenges facing the animal industries today. The first episode dove deep into the topics of Trust, Cows, Milk & Climate, featuring a conversation with Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Director, UC Davis CLEAR Center & Dept. of Animal Science, also known as the Greenhouse Gas Guru. The exceeded LinkedIn typical subscriber metrics, showing the interest in this topic. In September, Elanco published an editorial in Fast Company, titled “A Climate Solution is here and it has four stomachs,” which reassured consumers that they don’t have to feel guilty about eating a cheeseburger.
These efforts, combined with others in the livestock industry, are having a powerful impact on U.S. consumers. Elanco consumer research shows that sustainability continues to be important, with 71% of consumers saying that it’s important that the food they buy is produced sustainably. Additionally, 57% of consumers today say that they view livestock as a solution to climate change; an increase of 8% compared to 2021.[vii]
Visit Elanco.com, follow Elanco on social media or subscribe to Shared Table on LinkedIn to keep up to date on these efforts.
[ii] Experior FOI (Freedom of Information)
[iii] Elanco Data on File
[iv] Heifer Feeding Keeps Feedlot Inventories Large
[v] 5 J.A.D. Appuhamy, A.B. Strathe, S. Jayasundara, C. Wagner-Riddle, J. Dijkstra, J. France, E. Kebreab. Anti-methanogenic effects of monensin in dairy and beef cattle: A meta-analysis. J. Dairy Sci., 96 (2013), pp. 5161-5173.
[vi] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator https://www.epa.gov/energy/ greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
[vii] Elanco Data on File
