Strong differences in the CH4 emission from feces of grazing steers submitted to different feeding schedules

When studying the effects of changing the feeding schedule of Holstein steers grazing in a pure oat field, it was observed that the fecal matter of animals grazing in the morning emitted much more methane than that of steers grazing in the afternoon. Feces from two groups of 10 steers with different feeding schedules were collected on the same day and separately mixed to form two composite samples. Then, five sub-samples of each composite sample were randomly placed on the oat field and CH4 emissions were measured after deposition for 27 days. The difference in the emissions was in qualitative agreement with the pronounced loss of organic matter from the morning samples during the experimental period.