We are excited to announce the completion of our Climate-Smart Research Facility. This research facility is now the largest in the country dedicated to measuring greenhouse gas emissions in both grazing and feedlot systems. The construction of the facility was made possible by over $1 million worth of equipment donated from our industry partners: Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, Midwest PMS, Rabo AgriFinance, and C-LOCK Inc. 

The Climate-Smart Research Facility is located at Colorado State University’s Agricultural Research, Development & Education Center (ARDEC). The close proximity of the research facility to CSU’s main campus allows our team to be closely involved with the research. Due to the capabilities of this new facility, we are now able to research both feedlot and grazing systems. 

For feedlot systems research, there are 6 Climate Smart Pens that are each equipped with 1 GreenFeed machine, 2 SmartScales, and 5 SmartFeed machines. Each pen is large enough to hold 50 head of cattle, allowing a maximum feedlot research capacity of 300 cattle total. The GreenFeed machines measure emissions such as Methane, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, and Hydrogen for both individual animals and herd averages. The SmartScale provides information about each animal such as daily weight and also the rate of weight gain. The SmartFeed machines measure feed intake from each animal so we can determine how much the cattle are eating. Each animal is also equipped with an RFID tag that is scanned by the three different machines so we can gather accurate data on each individual animal.

In addition to the Climate Smart Pens, AgNext utilizes the 200-acre grazing pivot for grazing systems research. The pivot is irrigated and uses rotational grazing practices. In the pivot are 2 GreenFeed pasture machines. These machines are similar to the Green Feed machines in the Climate Smart pens, but configured in a way which makes them able to operate remotely so they can function in the pasture setting. In addition to emission measurement technology, the pivot also houses 2 SmartFeed Pro Trailers to deliver feed additives to the research cattle in a meticulous way. Pairing the SmartFeed delivery system with the GreenFeed measurement system has been vital to our research because it allows us to analyze dietary and management strategies at the same time as quantifying environmental factors such as emission output, efficiency, and sustainability in a grazing system.

The completion of this facility is a huge milestone for AgNext. This facility enables us to do all of our research in-house. We are looking forward to utilizing this facility for our research and thankful for our generous industry partners who made this possible.