Case Study: The West's production efficiencies are decreasing emissions
- ASHEEP & BEEF
- Apr 7
- 3 min read
Jan Clawson, ASHEEP & BEEF
Leigh and Karina West run a mixed sheep and cropping enterprise in the Gibson area. The Wests are part of the first group of farmers in 2023 to join ASHEEP & BEEF’s Meat & Livestock Australia Producer Demonstration Site “Carbon Neutral 2030 - Getting Started on Farm”. Karina spoke to project coordinator Jan Clawson on their involvement in the project and the emissions results they have achieved.
Why did you join the ASHEEP & BEEF project?
“We had completed the Melbourne Uni calculator a couple of times, but we found all the tabs very confronting,” said Karina. “We weren’t sure it was accurate once completed, and therefore didn’t know what to do with the results.” Karina also explained that between that and knowing that requirements to report on emissions were likely coming, they joined the project because they wanted more information.
Fast forward to today, following the third annual workshop the project has run, they are feeling a lot more confident completing the calculator – so much so that now they are making small adjustments while entering the year’s figures. Karina said, “In the beginning, completing the calculator was daunting, but that’s not the case anymore because most things are the same, so it’s just a matter of making a few small adjustments to capture the year’s information.”
Leigh and Karina had a one-on-one meeting with Richard Brake, Project Consultant, as part of the project, before the 2023 workshop. During that meeting, Richard explained how to record chemical active ingredients. It’s not just how many litres of chemical has been used; you need to work it back to kilograms of active ingredients (e.g. Glyphosate 450 is 0.45kg per litre). This, along with the review of the calculator, has given them the confidence to know the calculator is right!
As part of the annual workshops, we review each producer’s summary of results from the calculator. This summary includes the number of breeding animals in the herd or flock, the area and age of planted trees, enteric methane, net farm sons and emission intensity (net emission divided by kg product sold) for each commodity.
Before we reviewed the West’s summary, Leigh made it very clear that they are primarily focused on profit drivers and production efficiencies; they don’t make decisions based on carbon emissions. Remarkably, we saw that each year their emission intensity had reduced.
Leigh and Karina use genetic selection to select rams for good early growth, focus on good fat and muscle traits, but not too high to maintain fleece weight. They look for early growth with an aim of getting wether lambs off early to avoid feeding longer than required. This along with the crop and pasture rotation, has combined to give them good production while also reducing their emission intensity.
So, what about results? Do you know what to do with the calculator results now?
Karina said she now knows their emission numbers have value and likes Richard’s advice regarding protecting their emission numbers rather than giving them away.
What’s next? “Our focus will remain on productive legume crops and pastures to enable us to continue to increase production while lowering input costs (fertiliser) and carbon emissions. We need to ensure we are being good custodians of the land we farm to ensure sustainability for future generations.” Karina explained that they won’t be establishing any registered carbon projects to sell carbon credits, because the advice is that farmers will need to keep those credits for themselves. “I can see Natural Capital Accounting and Sustainability Statements as the next step,” she said.
The Wests are a great example of how focusing on production efficiencies can naturally lead to a reduction in carbon emissions!