Despite a constant reduction in the carbon footprint of livestock products, there is still room for efficiency gains – and those farmers at the top of their game can explore other avenues to tackle climate change, speakers at last week’s Alltech European technical summit said.
Stephen Ross of Alltech-ECO2, the company’s UK-based carbon footprint measurement branch, said that for every 0.2kg reduction in the feed needed to produce 1l of milk, greenouse gas emissions from that litre of milk would typically fall by 1.5% or 20g of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
Another way of looking at it is that a 200l milk yield increase from a cow is associated with a cut of over 1% in the milk’s carbon footprint, or 14gCO2e.
These gains are open to many farmers through improved breeding, with Ross’s own previous research over seven years at Scotland’s Rural College showing that top genetic merit cows had 9% lower emissions than animals representing the average British herd.
He also said that dropping the age at first calving from 27 to 24 months could cut the carbon footprint of a cow’s milk by 3%.
Ross added that feed quality was crucial.
For example, “when making silage, there would be mechanical losses in harvesting, spoilage and refusal if problems arise at feed-out”, he said – all hitting the financial and environmental efficiency of the farm.
“Greenhouse gas emissions are an indicator of waste, not only from the animal but also from your farm’s profitability,” said Ross.
For some farmers, increasing efficiency may not be an option: greenhouse gas emissions from milk produced in developed countries such as Ireland is already multiple times lower than in most of the developing world, where the highest potential for progress is available, said FAO livestock policy officer Carolyn Opio.
“We are pushing the limits,” she said – though she added that within Ireland, many farmers could still be brought up to the level of the most efficient ones.
Further options to reduce climate impact include using more food by-products in animal feed to reduce the need for grain, and generating renewable energy or bringing processing closer to the farm to cut fossil fuel requirements.
Both speakers said the next big prize could be to measure and improve the capture and storage of CO2 by grassland, but more research is needed in this area.
“It’s very location-specific. We don’t know exactly what works where,” said Opio.
Feed additive gets
independent climate
label
Alltech’s yeast-based feed additive Yea-Sacc has been validated by the Carbon Trust to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released by beef and dairy cattle, the company has announced.
“We’ve supplied farm-by-farm and peer-reviewed evidence and the Carbon Trust has agreed that it will reduce methane and nitrogen excretion,” Ben Braou, business manager of Alltech-ECO2, told the Irish Farmers Journal. “How much of that is on a case-by-case basis that we have to measure?”
General manager Andy Wynne said that while other additives such as onion or garlic extracts had been shown to have detrimental impacts on animal performance while reducing methane, this was not the case with Yea-Sacc.
Alltech hopes to have other products accredited by the Carbon Trust, an independent climate change certification body founded by the UK government, in the coming weeks.
Read more
Listen: best farmers 'pushing the limit' of climate efficiency
€10m in funding announced for on-farm solar panels and LED lights
Tax consumers who buy polluting foods – UN
Despite a constant reduction in the carbon footprint of livestock products, there is still room for efficiency gains – and those farmers at the top of their game can explore other avenues to tackle climate change, speakers at last week’s Alltech European technical summit said.
Stephen Ross of Alltech-ECO2, the company’s UK-based carbon footprint measurement branch, said that for every 0.2kg reduction in the feed needed to produce 1l of milk, greenouse gas emissions from that litre of milk would typically fall by 1.5% or 20g of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
Another way of looking at it is that a 200l milk yield increase from a cow is associated with a cut of over 1% in the milk’s carbon footprint, or 14gCO2e.
These gains are open to many farmers through improved breeding, with Ross’s own previous research over seven years at Scotland’s Rural College showing that top genetic merit cows had 9% lower emissions than animals representing the average British herd.
He also said that dropping the age at first calving from 27 to 24 months could cut the carbon footprint of a cow’s milk by 3%.
Ross added that feed quality was crucial.
For example, “when making silage, there would be mechanical losses in harvesting, spoilage and refusal if problems arise at feed-out”, he said – all hitting the financial and environmental efficiency of the farm.
“Greenhouse gas emissions are an indicator of waste, not only from the animal but also from your farm’s profitability,” said Ross.
For some farmers, increasing efficiency may not be an option: greenhouse gas emissions from milk produced in developed countries such as Ireland is already multiple times lower than in most of the developing world, where the highest potential for progress is available, said FAO livestock policy officer Carolyn Opio.
“We are pushing the limits,” she said – though she added that within Ireland, many farmers could still be brought up to the level of the most efficient ones.
Further options to reduce climate impact include using more food by-products in animal feed to reduce the need for grain, and generating renewable energy or bringing processing closer to the farm to cut fossil fuel requirements.
Both speakers said the next big prize could be to measure and improve the capture and storage of CO2 by grassland, but more research is needed in this area.
“It’s very location-specific. We don’t know exactly what works where,” said Opio.
Feed additive gets
independent climate
label
Alltech’s yeast-based feed additive Yea-Sacc has been validated by the Carbon Trust to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released by beef and dairy cattle, the company has announced.
“We’ve supplied farm-by-farm and peer-reviewed evidence and the Carbon Trust has agreed that it will reduce methane and nitrogen excretion,” Ben Braou, business manager of Alltech-ECO2, told the Irish Farmers Journal. “How much of that is on a case-by-case basis that we have to measure?”
General manager Andy Wynne said that while other additives such as onion or garlic extracts had been shown to have detrimental impacts on animal performance while reducing methane, this was not the case with Yea-Sacc.
Alltech hopes to have other products accredited by the Carbon Trust, an independent climate change certification body founded by the UK government, in the coming weeks.
Read more
Listen: best farmers 'pushing the limit' of climate efficiency
€10m in funding announced for on-farm solar panels and LED lights
Tax consumers who buy polluting foods – UN
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: