Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017C00466:clause:2_6:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017C00466
Segment Type: clause
Provision Reference: sch 2 cl 6 (pt 1/3)
Character Range: 12685–15445

6  Herd management projects
 (1) For paragraph 106(1)(a) of the Act, this determination applies to an emissions avoidance offsets project that can reasonably be expected to result in eligible carbon abatement through reducing emissions from one or more herds of cattle, by any of the following:
 (a) increasing the ratio of weight to age of the herd;
 (b) reducing the average age of the herd;
 (c) reducing the proportion of unproductive animals in the herd;
 (d) changing the ratio of livestock classes within the herd to increase total annual liveweight gain of the herd.
 (2) A project covered by subsection (1) is a herd management project.
Part 3—Project requirements

      Summary
      The project proponent must specify at least one herd for the project in the section 22 application, and may specify other herds later (these do not extend the crediting period).
      A herd is specified by specifying the business operation to which it is attached—the herd consists, at any particular time, of the cattle that are on the livestock inventory of the business operation at that time. A business operation does not need to be a separate legal entity, as long as its associated herd is managed as a discrete set of animals over time that can be clearly identified by auditors in the records of its parent entity.
      Each herd has an "assessment day", which the project proponent must specify in the application (although it may be changed if necessary before the start of the crediting period). Each "assessment year" (the annual cycle for measuring the abatement for the herd) will begin immediately after the assessment day of one calendar year and end on the assessment day of the next. The calculator requires data inputs of the weights of animals present in the herd at the end of an assessment day, and these normally require the weighing of the animals, or of statistically valid samples of the animals, within six weeks before or after the day. (There are alternative provisions for obtaining weights that apply in some circumstances, including where normal mustering is delayed by a natural disturbance). Different herds may have different assessment days. The assessment day for the herd cannot be changed after the first offsets report relating to the herd has been given to the Regulator.
      The calculator also requires data inputs of the weights of animals entering or leaving the herd during an assessment year. These may be aggregated monthly.
      For each herd, the project proponent must have historical emissions intensity data that enables the baseline data to be calculated. The historical data is calculated for annual cycles that fall within the period of 7 years that ends on the baseline reference date. This is likely