Rumin8 receives $650,000 grant to commercialise its methane busting livestock feed supplements
9 June 2022
Australian climate technology company Rumin8 has received a $650,000 grant from AusIndustry’s Entrepreneur’s Program to accelerate the commercialisation of its next generation of feed supplements to reduce methane emissions from livestock.
The Entrepreneur’s Program provides small and medium businesses, start-ups, entrepreneurs and researchers with access to expert advice and funding to help novel products, processes or services make it to market.
The $650,000 grant will be used to progress animal trials of its unique livestock feed additives, which independent trials have demonstrated can reduce methane emissions from livestock by up to 95 per cent.
The company identifies naturally occurring compounds that have anti-methanogenic properties and instead of harvesting and extracting them from plants, is able to reproduce them in a highly efficient, low cost, scalable, and high-quality process to feed to livestock in order to reduce their emissions.
Rumin8 Managing Director David Messina said bringing a new animal health product to market was time consuming and expensive, and the AusIndustry grant, and facilitation would help to speed up and fund the process.
“Both the health of our planet and the long-term sustainability of the global beef cattle, dairy and sheep industries needs cost-effective solutions to prevent methane emissions from livestock and we believe that Rumin8 can play a significant role in both,” Mr Messina said.
“The AusIndustry grant will provide considerable financial assistance as we progress our research and move to commercialisation.”
Livestock contribute about six per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions through methane created during the food digestion process.
Invitro trials of Rumin8’s first product at the University of Western Australia reduced methane production in sheep by more than 90 per cent by day three, with almost total elimination by day five. The trials were also used to identify optimal dosing rates to achieve the required reductions in methane emissions.
Rumin8 is now partnering with the University of Western Australia, University of Melbourne and the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to assess the repeatability of the laboratory trials in animal trials in 2022.
Media:
Cameron Morse
+61 433 886 871
cameron.morse@fticonsulting.com
Mike Groves
+61 427 065551
About Rumin8
Rumin8 harnesses lessons from nature, to create climate friendly supplements which reduce methane emissions from livestock.
Rumin8’s unique strength is in its patent-protected technology and proprietary expertise in synthesising and stabilising otherwise volatile bioactive compounds (compounds that degrade or evaporate when separated from their natural plant-based carrier), which are found in nature.
The Company’s technology is applicable to a range of methane reducing compounds found in plants and we are developing a range of feed supplements that can be provided to livestock in feed lot and pasture applications.