Sustainable Feed and Land Management Practices to Consider
- 5 juin 2023
This past March 2024, Lactanet organized a series of 3 sustainability webinars funded by the Dairy Farmers of Canada. The feed and land management practices discussed in Webinar 3 are summarized in this article.
Almost all the land used for dairy farming is for feed production. Quality feed is crucial for thriving and productive dairy cattle. Therefore, dairy production is dependent on soil health, which is associated with carbon, nitrogen, and water cycles that enable life and biotic production. Notably, 22% of the milk carbon footprint comes from on-dairy farm feed production (Figure 1).
Compared to concentrates, using forages reduces the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with feed production. Regarding forage production, most of the emissions (45%) are N2O from soils (fertilizers and residues), followed by CO2 from machinery use (especially at harvesting), which accounts for about 25% (Maxime, 2013).
There are various recommended forage and crop production practices you can implement on your farm to operate more efficiently, subsequently moving the Canadian dairy industry closer to its target of reducing GHG to reach Net Zero by 2050. Read about them below!
Actions to lower the N2O emissions from soil and mineral fertilizer inputs include:
Actions to lower the CO2 emissions from machinery use (harvest, loading and feed storage operations, and tillage) include:
Importantly, every farm is unique! Soil and inputs analysis data is the first step to provide insight to your own situation. Your field advisors are key support, as they can help with data analysis and interpretation to advise on field and land management. Lastly, savings are directly associated with a reduction of costly nutrient inputs and fuel consumption, accelerating the return on investment and making your production more profitable in the long term.
To watch the full webinar recording please click on the button below
For an assessment tailored to your farm, contact an expert advisor!
This article was developed by Lactanet and was brought to you thanks to Dairy Farmers of Canada funding, through the National Dairy Knowledge Transfer Project.
