Dairy methane seminar 13.11.2017

1. STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE
RESOURCE AND CLIMATE
EFFICIENCY IN MILK PRODUCTION
Juha Nousiainen
120.11.2017

2. © Valio Oy 20.11.2017 2
1) Effects on climate, esp. dairy methane
2) Effects on natural waters, esp. N & P
3) Resource inefficiency
4) Animal wellfare
Food production with animals, especially with ruminants, is
seriously and more often questioned because:

3. But why food is produced with
ruminant animals?

4. Because globally half or even two
thrids of the fields can be efficiently
used only for grass or forage
production. This is exactly the same
in Finland.

5. We can even make a serious claim:
Without ruminants the global food
system would most evidently
collaps!

6. However, when the global
population steadily increases, all the
food production – animal or
vegetarian – must be sustainable
and resource & climate efficient.

7. © Valio Oy
We use carbon foodprint per product
as a measure of resource and climate efficiency.
It is perhaps not an optimal measure, and very
often misused, but perhaps the best.
In milk production, we can set a thumb rule:
40:40:20

8. Carbon footprint of raw milk on Finnish dairy farms (Astaptsev 2017, unpubl.)
(1‐year data, energy allocation  milk & meat)
%‐distribution of emissions
A thumb rule:
Methane (dig.) 40
N2O 40
Other 20
N 14
Mean 1,2
StDev 0,17
Range 0,9‐1,5
kg CO2‐ekv/ kg ECM

9. © Valio Oy
• Feed less (or no) food &
prevent losses
• More efficient feed
production
• More efficient cow
• Feeding innovations
• Techonological innovations
Our framework:

10. © Valio Oy
• Avoid feed items that can be
consumed by humans (like soya
& grain)
• Also; avoid & minimize loss in
the whole milk chain
• Favour grass, forages and
fibrous by‐products
• Relatively easy measures, just a
bit of common sense!
Feed less (or no) food
& prevent losses!

11. © Valio Oy 20.11.2017 11
• NO!
• A typical DM‐yield is about 5000‐6000 kg DM/ha
• But the potential is at least 10000 kg DM/ha and even more
• We need to study the reasons why the potential is not used
• And set a program to implement measures to incerase yields
• As a result we can decrease N2O per product markedly
More effecient grass production: do we use our
potential?

12. © Valio Oy 20.11.2017 12
We can perhaps agree on that:
Our cows must be more efficient in using feed energy into milk!
AND
The longevity (= wellfare) of our cows must be better and we must
work hard on this!
AND
As a result we can mitigate both methane and N2O emmissions per
product!!
A more efficient cow?

13. © Valio Oy
Icreasing milk Y per cow by
traditional breeding programs?
20.11.2017 13
40‐50 years work
LW ↑
E for M ↗
The traditional selection for higher milk yield is not enough anymore.
We need new breeding programs and selection against feed efficiency.

14. What about feeding &
technolocical
innovations?

15. Essential
oils?
Mode of
action?
More
concentrates?
 VFA PROFILE??
Feeding innovations
to mitigate ruminal
methane output?
PUFA in the
diet??
H2 sink
Interventions
to rumen
microbiota?
(metabolomics)
Novel and
spesific feed
additives?
Re‐channelling
H2??
Higher CP?
More fat in
the diet??
Lower H2
Diet
optimization
for min
methane

16. Constraining CH4 by dietary
manipulation??
20.11.2017 16
CH4-constraint,g/kg ECM 20 13,5 13 12,5 12
CH4, g/kg ECM 13,8 13,5 13 12,5 12
ECM, kg/d 29,1 29,1 29,0 29,1 28,8
DMI/kg ECM 0,68 0,69 0,68 0,65 0,65
Dietary fat, g/kg DM 40 52 63 70 80
Feed cost, €/d 3,80 3,90 4,10 4,40 4,90
Cost to reduce 1 kg CH4 11,5 12,2 15,9 19,6
Most of the dietary manipulations are inefficient &
expensive!

17. What about novel feed additives?
Some of them might be promising and
even 20‐30% decrease in methane has been
measured without harmful effects in some trials.
But what is the mode of action? Does rumen
microbes adapt? Safety to humans and animals?
Additional R&D needed!

18. © Valio Oy 20.11.2017 18
Innovations in
barn
technology to
save energy?
Manure
processing?
Technological innovations
to mitigate methane after
cow?
Improved
systems for
manure storages
& spreading?
Innovation in
ventilation
systems?
Technology for
accelerating
CH4CO2 CO2 = 1
CH4 = 28
Manure
energy to
biogas?
Zero‐energy
barn?

19. © Valio Oy
So this is our framework for better resource and
climate efficiency in milk production.
It is propably safe to conclude that
we need a program consisting of
many measures for continuous and
permanent improvement.
And we need co‐operation, R&D and
new thinking & innovations!

20. Thank You for Your Attention!