News
July 20, 2026
Will the cow's milk yield drop? Will the milk quality stay the same? And will the extra feed cost cut into the farm's margin? These are the three questions that come up first whenever Bovaer® is introduced on a French dairy farm, and they deserve straightforward answers.
Bovaer® is added to a cow's daily ration through mineral or complementary feed, without changing anything else about how the farm operates. Milk yield and quality stay the same, herd routines stay the same, and the only difference is the methane a cow produces while digesting. Made from two naturally occurring ingredients, it reduces the activity of the enzyme responsible for methane production in the rumen, cutting methane emissions from digestion by 30% on average.
So, can Bovaer® be used without compromising milk production or milk quality? To answer this question, a dedicated analysis was conducted using studies based on high-forage diets (>60%), representative of French farming conditions. The assessment draws on a 2025 meta-analysis by Martins et al. (Pennsylvania State University), focusing specifically on studies conducted under these high-forage conditions to ensure relevance to French production systems.
The results were reassuring. Milk volume dipped slightly, by 0.73% on average, but fat rose by 0.74% and protein by 1%, so fat- and protein-corrected production held essentially flat. Dry matter intake reduced by 1.74% at the same time, improving feed efficiency by 0.84%. Taken together, the data points to no meaningful loss in milk performance once composition is accounted for.
| Performance Parameters | Values |
| Milk volume | -0.73% (slight dip) |
| Milk fat composition | +0.74% |
| Milk protein composition | +1.0% |
| Corrected milk production | Stable |
| Feed intake | -1.74% |
| Feed efficiency | +0.84% |
For farmers, the principle is straightforward: Bovaer® should not be an extra cost placed on the farm. Reducing methane is a collective effort across the whole dairy sector, and farmers should not be expected to carry that responsibility alone. Bovaer® should be something farmers choose to use because there is a clear return for the methane reduction they help deliver. In practice, that means the cost of Bovaer® needs to be covered, and farmers should receive a fair reward through a milk premium, carbon scheme, subsidy or other value-chain support.
In France, Bovaer® would add about €0.26 per cow per day to the ration, based on a typical 22 kg dry matter diet.
Every processor leveraging Bovaer® in their sustainability tools covers the cost of Bovaer® and adds a premium tied to carbon reduction, paid per liter delivered. The logic follows where the emissions actually sit: upstream activities, from the farm to the point the milk is transformed, account for roughly 80% of the dairy sector's total emissions, which is why processor support concentrates there, alongside other measures such as lowering the age at first calving and improving feed and fertilizer efficiency. The French dairy sector has set a forward-looking target of cutting upstream emissions by 18% between 2019 and 2030, with feed supplements like Bovaer® named explicitly as one of the levers expected to contribute. Use of Bovaer® remains voluntary in every case; no processor mandates it.
To test whether this support actually pays off at farm level, dsm-firmenich modeled an average French dairy farm: 70 cows producing 30 liters per cow per day, with milk valued at €492.4 per 1,000 liters once composition is factored in. The model has been selected by the scientific committee of Inrae and Idele for presentation at the 3R conference (Rencontres Recherches Ruminants – reference event of ruminant research and science in France) in December 2026.
Four scenarios were tested, ranging from a processor covering only the cost of Bovaer® to a processor adding a premium of up to €5.6 per 1,000 liters. The first scenario, cost coverage with no premium on top, is a theoretical floor rather than something seen on the market today: every processor currently supporting Bovaer® adoption in France pays a premium in addition to covering the cost.
| Premium paid on top of cost coverage | Gain per cow, per day | Gain per 1,000 liters |
| €0 | +€0.06 | +€2.85 |
| €1.5 | +€0.11 | +€4.35 |
| €2.0 | +€0.12 | +€4.85 |
| €5.6 | +€0.23 | +€8.45 |
Source: Le Mag XXLait, May 2026, based on average French dairy farm economics.
In every scenario tested, the farmer gained money. Even with no premium at all, just cost coverage plus the small zootechnical benefit from improved feed efficiency, the model showed a gain of €0.06 per cow per day. As the premium rises, so does the farmer's margin, up to €0.23 per cow per day, or €8.45 per 1,000 liters, at the highest premium level studied.
That outcome lines up with what farmers themselves say they want: 83% say they would adopt Bovaer® if a premium covers its cost and adds a gain on top. Across the processors currently supporting its use, that condition is already being met.
The farm came out ahead in every case, with a small gain even when the processor only covered the cost. That gain grew larger as the premium increased. Milk performance held steady throughout, and farmers keep managing the herd exactly as before. What changes is the premium that shows up in the milk price.
For farmers weighing whether to adopt Bovaer®, the practical next step is a conversation with the dairy processor or farm advisor about what carbon-reduction premium applies to their contract. That conversation, more than any modeling exercise, will determine what Bovaer® is worth on a specific farm.