SUSTAINABILITY ▶▶▶


Supporting cattle sustainability credentials


Animal feed is integral to profitable and efficient dairy and beef farming. This is why feed production plays a crucial role in how we reduce the environmental impact associated with the food system.


BY NEIL KEANE, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR FOR RUMEN FUNCTION AT ALLTECH C 1,000


ovid 19 has underlined the need for resilient food systems. Feed production capacity is directly corre- lated with the amount of food available for human consumption and, indeed, general food security.


Sustainable and efficient feed supply chains are relevant to small-scale livestock production all the way up to some of the world’s largest integrators. A growing challenge for the feed industry is competition with humans for similar feed sources. This challenges the industry to include feed additives to im- prove rumen efficiency and explore the use of bespoke feed ingredients that only ruminants can utilise. It is no longer sufficient to simply claim a low carbon foot- print for your livestock production system or animal feed. This claim needs to be supported by repeatable, measurable, and verifiable evidence. Alltech E-CO2


has developed the


Feeds EA™ model to help feed manufacturers and producers globally to measure and reduce the carbon footprint of their feed. The model measures the environmental impact of feed


Figure 1 - Impact of feeding Optigen to dairy cows. DAIRY


efficiency improvement


+3% feed


4% N Nitrogen soybean meal


nitrogen use efficiency


$ 21%


Impact of feeding Optigen® to 1,000 dairy cows


production at the feed mill level by assessing the impact of existing compounds or blends. This impact is determined by calculating greenhouse gas emissions from production, cultivation, processing, energy utilisation and transportation in feed manufacturing. With the model emissions from a data- base of more than 300 ingredients can be calculated, includ- ing raw materials, soya products, by-products, and additives. By reducing food waste through circular agriculture-type initiatives, we can be confident about the resilience of our food production systems and their ability to embrace more efficient use of resources. This is exemplified in initiatives such as supplementation of by-products to ruminants and closing nutrient loops. By reducing food loss and waste in our livestock production systems in a verifiable way, we can con- tinue to make a strong case for the sustainable solutions our industry offers in slowing the pace of climate change.


profitability $18,000


Income over feed cost (1,000 cows/ lactation)


-647 xxxx


CO2 e


436 424


fewer cars on the road


houses’ use of electricity


Mitigating waste Precision agriculture and the application of ruminal ammonia to animal nutrition has been proven in recent meta-analyses of dairy and beef research designed to reduce environmental impact through improved utilisation of nitrogen in ruminant systems. Suppy of ruminal ammonia (Optigen) through dairy diets was shown to: • Improve nitrogen utilisation efficiency in dairy cattle by 4%, thanks to improved nitrogen capture in the rumen.


24 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 29, No. 7, 2021


PHOTO: HANS PRINSEN


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