GREENING AGRICULTURE APR 2013 REDUCED NITROGEN AND METHANE LOSS FROM DAIRY COWS HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? Peter Lund Department of Animal Science
Kg N excretion /cow/y Kg N excretion/cow/y Milk production in Denmark 550.000 dairy cows High share of organic producers Holstein and Jersey High share of AMS 150 cows/farm Loose housing with cubicles Cooperative (advisory service, dairy, slaughterhouse, feed manufacturer etc.) 160 160 140 140 120 120 100 100 80 80 60 60 40 40 20 20 0 0 100 200 300 400 GE intake 0 0 5000 10000 15000 Milk yield Gyldenkærne (2013)
Ex animal Retention Nutrient flow Feed Farm Livestock Emissions: Milk yield and composition from onfarm recordings of individual yield. Feed plans available on-line by the NorFor feed evaluation system and from on-farm efficiency controls. Bedding Ex animal Housing Ex housing Housing Feed content of N and P is higher than requirement as it is based on actual recorded content. Storage Ex storage Manure Storage Feed intake is higher than requirements as it takes feed efficiency (management etc.) into account. The flow dynamics of the Danish normative system that quantifies nutrient content in livestock manure ex animal, ex housing and ex storage.
Variation in excretion Kg N Ex. per cow per year Aaes (2013)
Data fra DK-farms: Effect of milk yield Milk yield Kg ECM FE/d Gram protein pr. FE Feed efficiency Kg N ex. ECM:N Low 25% 8.250 17.9 174 82 137 60 Avr. 50% 9.340 19.1 174 83 144 65 High 25% 10.330 20.2 176 84 150 69 S:\SUNDFODE\OEA\Fodringsdag 2003\Ole Aaes-2.ppt Aaes (2013)
Data fra DK-farms: Effect of feed protein content Protein Kg ECM FE/d Gram protein pr. FE Kg N ex. Urine-N, kg/cow (% ) ECM:N Low 25% 9.240 18.9 165 133 56 (42) 69 Avr. 50% 9.340 19.1 174 144 69 (48) 65 High 25% 9.340 19.2 184 154 81 (53) 61 S:\SUNDFODE\OEA\Fodringsdag 2003\Ole Aaes-2.ppt Aaes (2013)
Data fra DK-farms: Effect of intake level Intake level Kg ECM FE/d Gram protein pr. FE Feed efficiency Kg N Ex. ECM:N Low 25% 8.430 17.5 173 84 132 64 Avr. 50% 9.310 19.1 174 83 144 65 High 25% 10.070 20.5 176 81 155 65 S:\SUNDFODE\OEA\Fodringsdag 2003\Ole Aaes-2.ppt Aaes (2013)
Data fra DK-farms: Effect of Feed efficiency Feed efficiency Kg ECM FE/d Gram protein pr. FE Feed efficiency Kg N ex. ECM:N Low 25% 8.980 19.5 174 79 150 60 Avr. 50% 9.380 19.1 175 83 144 65 High 25% 9.560 18.6 173 87 136 70 S:\SUNDFODE\OEA\Fodringsdag 2003\Ole Aaes-2.ppt Aaes (2013)
What is the potential tomorrow? Milk yield Today: 9517 kg ECM Best 25%: 10294 kg ECM Feed efficiency Today: 83% Best 25%: 87% Protein content Today: 172 g CP/SFU Best 25%: 163 g CP/SFU
Potential 160 140-9% 141 128 120 100 80 60 75 75 66 52 +20% 68 81 2012 Scenario 40 20 0 kg N Faeces kg N Urine kg N Ex. kg ECM/kg N Ex.
Development from year 2000 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 N Ex. (kg N/cow/y) 144 142 140 138 136 134 132 130 128 126 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 kg ECM/kg N Ex. 61 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Conclusion - Nitrogen The Danish system uses data from practice to calculate N excretion Comparing the current standard values with the top 25% shows a potential to reduce N excretion per animal with 9% reduce N emission with 21% improve efficiency with 20% increase milk yield with 8%
kg CO2-eq. per kg FPCM What can we do about methane? 12.00 10.00 ad Multipurpose 8.00 6.00 Ekstensive 4.00 Intensive 2.00 0.00 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 9,000 Output per cow, kg FPCM per year Gerber (2011)
Most recent data from 1923!! 4 new animal friendly chambers installed in 2009
Fat x forage cow 34 32 CH 4 /kg DM -3% 30 28-5% 26-5% 24 Early grass Early grass Late grass Late grass Maize Maize -fat +fat -fat +fat -fat +fat Brask (2013)
Liter metane/kg VS Fat x forage biogas potential 350 300 +17% +17% +9% 250 200 150 100 90 days 60 days 30 days 50 0 grass silage early grass silage early + rapeseed grass silage late grass silage late + rapeseed mais silage mais silage + rapeseed Møller (2013)
GHG from feed + CH 4 from cow, kg CO 2 /kg ECM Growing Processing Transport LUC C in soil CH4 cow Maize ration + 16 % More from feed Due to C in soil Less CH 4 from cow Grass ration -0,2 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 Mogensen (2013)
Microbial community Feed Cows Poulsen (2013)
On farm screening
Conclusion Methane Methane emission from ruminants is unavoidable but can be reduced. Increased production and production efficiency Optimised feeding Breeding for the low methane producing cows We have to look on the chain perspective as well (biogas) Potential: 15% reduction or more
Thank you