Feed efficiency key to reducing milk’s carbon footprint

Growing pressures from various influences have meant that food and feed security has never been more important, particularly here in the UK, as we strive to feed a growing population.

From climate change, including sea reclamation and long-term temperature shifts, to the requirement for more land to grow crops for energy, we are facing the prospect of less and less land to grow crops for feed or food.

When combined with political instability, and the numerous policies UK farmers have to adhere to from government, processors and retailers, there is a need to focus on increasing outputs, while using less inputs, if we are to achieve food and feed security. But how do we get to that space?

Greenhouse gas reduction strategies

Producers are facing greater pressure from the consumer, retailers and processors to reduce farm carbon footprints, with many contracts aligned to wider greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies.

This has, in turn, provided opportunities for industry-wide initiatives to improve efficiencies.

For example, Arla’s global Climate Check data shows that 78% of the difference between their farms with the highest and lowest climate footprint can be explained by whether and how they are optimising farm resources, determined by five key levers:

1. Optimising feed efficiency
2. Maximising protein efficiency
3. Managing healthy, contented cows
4. Avoiding nitrogen surpluses produced by excess fertiliser use
5. Improving crop yields to reduce land use associated with growing cow feed.

Together, these steps can take farms to almost a third of the way to a 30% on-farm reduction target by 2030 and have also been shown to be good for the farmers’ bottom line.

Feed efficiency

“Feed efficiency is key not only to productivity and margins, but also to meeting commitments to reduce farm carbon footprints, and this provides an opportunity for dairy producers,” explains Georgie Croxford, head of ruminant technical & quality, at KW Feeds.

Some sustainability requirements/actions from processors or retailers can be difficult or costly to implement.

However, as Ms Croxford explains, feed efficiency has the benefit of improving performance, profitability and sustainability.

It is therefore an area farmers should be focusing on, whether or not their processors have implemented sustainability KPIs, and should be based on feed and ration management, aligned with a focus on cow-health, welfare and fertility.

“Feed makes up around 60-70% of the cost of production, and taking into account a number of industry reports across the UK, between 24-37% of emissions on farm are from feed,” she explains.

“It is therefore essential that we should aim to improve the feed efficiency of the animals, to help improve the profitability of the farm, as well as lower the carbon footprint.”

Use of responsible raw materials and co-products

“Reducing the footprint of a diet could in fact increase the footprint of a litre of milk produced, if performance is compromised, so use of good quality feed ingredients and working with people and businesses you trust to provide advice are key,” Ms Croxford continues.

The use of co-products in ruminant rations, such as those generated from the production of beer, whisky, ethanol, starch and sugar, have been shown through globally recognised methodology to carry a significantly lower carbon footprint, and often cost, compared to more traditional straights.

It is an important example of how livestock producers play an integral role within a circular economy.

Many feeds fed to ruminants are co-products from the processing of primary crops such as brewers’ grains, DDGS, reprocessed food products like bread, ‘biscuit’ meals, rape and soya products, sugar beet pulp and the moist feed C*Traffordgold, making effective use of the co-products left behind after wheat is processed for the food, pharma, drink, aquaculture, and pet food industries.

Co-products can be used to provide a large proportion of nutrients required by the animal to balance home-grown feeds, whilst driving down the footprint of the ration significantly.

Performance benefits

“Of course, home-grown feeds must always be matched to support animal performance.

“The high-energy rumen-protected protein NovaPro, made from UK rapeseed, is a prime example,” says Ms Croxford.

NovaPro brings performance benefits, including improved intakes and milk yields, against soya, allowing for the removal or reduction of soya from dairy cow diets, while its carbon footprint is only around 1/7th of the carbon footprint of soya*.  

“It can support lowering the crude protein of ruminant rations whilst still meeting metabolisable protein requirements for high-yielding cows, leading to improved emissions per litre of milk,” she explains.

Trials run at the University of Nottingham found rations containing NovaPro produced an additional 1.7 litres of milk/cow/day compared to a soya-and-rape-based ration, with no significant effect on milk constituents.

This was coupled with a significant reduction in milk urea, suggesting an improvement in nitrogen efficiency, and less direct and indirect emissions from manure.

NovaPro therefore allows producers to replace soya fully or partially, whilst improving animal performance and environmental credentials.

Customer support

“In order to help our customers reduce their carbon footprint, they need to know the carbon value of the feeds they are purchasing from us,” continues Ms Croxford.

“As a business we are in a position to provide these figures, enabling producers to use the feed figures in their lifecycle assessment to calculate the entire carbon footprint of their operation.

“Once benchmarked, we can then work with producers and their nutritionists to look at opportunities to reduce the footprint, and improving feed efficiency and the use of co-products can play a key role in achieving those goals,” she concludes.

* GFLI figure for soya coming into the UK including Land Use Change, NovaPro figure as per independent LCA