Friday, 13 September 2019 17:08

Barn dairy has bigger carbon footprint than pasture-based dairy

Written by  Staff Reporters

A new study has found that barn dairy’s carbon footprint is bigger than pasture-based dairy’s.

In a New Zealand first, new research from Lincoln University PhD Researcher Hafiz Muhammad Abrar Ilyasestimates the carbon footprints (CO2) of our pastoral, or grass based, and barn dairy systems based on their energy consumption.

This study was carried out on 50 conventional dairy farms in Canterbury- 43 pastoral and seven barn systems.

Hafiz said the difference between the two systems indicated that the barn system has an 18% higher carbon footprint than the pastoral system per hectare of farm area, and 11% higher footprint per tonne of milk solids.

Barn dairy systems have been a relatively recent introduction in New Zealand as a solution to animal welfare, soil structure damage and wider environmental challenges.

“The use of barn facilities, however, requires further intensification of the system, in terms of the use of energy inputs to make the system profitable, making it difficult to achieve both financial and environmental benefits simultaneously”.

He said the greater carbon footprint of the barn system was due to more use of imported feed supplements, machinery usage and fossil fuel (diesel and petrol) consumption for on-farm activities.

In the pastoral system, a significant contributor to emissions was the use of fertiliser.

He included emissions released during the production of materials used for manufacturing of indirect energy inputs (fertilizer, machinery and equipment) which, he added, were rarely considered.

“What is not accounted for is overseas production and import of these inputs to the agricultural sector.

“As production of imported feed supplements involves fossil energy consumption and releases CO2emissions into the atmosphere, it is considered as an indirect source of carbon emissions in this study.” 

The same is true for fertiliser.

Overall, the carbon footprints due to indirect energy inputs are higher than the carbon footprints of direct inputs in both systems.

The use of imported feed supplements is higher in the barn system due to the higher stocking rate and more intensive nature of the system.

In addition to that, the use of barn facilities increases stocking rate and input consumption to produce more milk per cow. This in turn has increased the cow size (weight), increasing methane emissions per cow, as bigger cows produce more enteric methane due to their higher feed intake.

Based on these other greenhouse gases (CH4, N2O etc.) and their environmental impacts, a number of worldwide studies have recommended the pastoral system as the ultimate solution to environmental challenges such as climate change rather than the barn system.

He said, in New Zealand reducing environmental emissions from farming systems is a critical issue for the dairy industry.

“Although CH4emissions from enteric fermentation and N2O emissions from soils make up the majority of GHG emissions from agriculture, energy use within the agricultural sector directly in terms of fuel combustion and indirectly through the increasing use of synthetic fertilizers and other inputs is also of concern.

“It is also an area that is perhaps more easily addressed.

“In this regard, minimising carbon footprints associated with energy consumption will be helpful to achieve New Zealand’s emission reduction targets and will also help to reduce overall greenhouse gases HG emissions from dairy systems and move towards more climate friendly or sustainable farming systems,” Hafiz concluded.

Hafiz acknowledged the help and contribution for this project, from Majeed Safa (supervisor), Professor Alison Bailey (supervisor), Sara Rauf and Marvin Pangborn.

More like this

Farming climate 'is complicated'

Milk MaP's senior farm business consultant, Andrew Trounce, says thriving in today’s volatile farming climate is a complicated conversation.

Marlborough drought declaration welcomed

Marlborough Federated Farmers has got some real concern about the mental wellbeing of farmers and their families in the region because of the drought and there’s a lot of pressure starting to build.

SNAs will go - eventually

Despite some earlier confusion around the exact timing, the new Government is moving to reform the way local bodies implement Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) rules on farmland.

Featured

Protect productivity from red tape

Productive industries shouldn’t be strangled in red tape, they need to be able to operate and grow, using technology to meet rising expectations for environmental standards, according to Dudley Clemens – environmental manager at J Swap Ltd.

Learnings from tractor incident

A near miss experienced by a North Island farmer worker when their tractor ‘park’ gear failed, has been shared as the latest Safety Alert from Safer Farms.

Frontline biosecurity 'untouchable'

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard has reiterated that 'frontline' biosecurity services within Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) will not be cut under the Government's plan to reduce the public service.

National

Share farmers with big plans

With only about eight weeks to go before their cows are dried off, the 2024 Manawatu Dairy Industry Awards Share…

Team effort brings results

For the team at Westmorland Estate Limited in Waikato, it has been another year of everyone working together to achieve…

Machinery & Products

New name, new ideas

KGM New Zealand, is part of the London headquartered Inchcape Group, who increased its NZ presence in August 2023 with…

All-terrain fert spreading mode

Effluent specialists the Samson Group have developed a new double unloading system to help optimise uphill and downhill organic fertiliser…

Can-Am showcases range

Based on industry data collected by the Motor Industry Association, Can-Am is the number one side-by-side manufacturer in New Zealand.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Exploited by one of their own

OPINION: Milking It believes a recent Employment Relations Authority ruling on the exploitation of three migrant workers from Indonesia highlights…

'Not our fault!'

OPINION: Milking It wasn’t too surprised to hear Kiwis’ trust in media has sunk to a new low.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter