Greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand sheep and beef farms

Vibart, Ronaldo; Rennie, G.M.; Hutchinson, Kathryn; Burtt, Andrew; Chrystal, Jane; Dynes, Robyn

doi:10.33584/jnzg.2021.83.3501

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, comparison can be made using the yield of GHG per kg DM eaten. For example, the output of animal GHG emissions from dry-matter intake using the standard calculation method in this study is approximately 0.65 kg CO 2 -e/kg DM, similar to the 0.67 kg CO 2 -e/kg DM that can be calculated from data reported by Vibart et al (2021) for low-intensity sheep and beef farming.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Effects of water-quality management mitigations on greenhouse-gas emissions from deer farms

Stevens

Casey²,

McGrouther³

2023

Anim. Prod. Sci.

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Context. Red deer farming in New Zealand has increased in intensity, increasing the emissions to water and air. Outdoor wintering systems pose a significant threat to water quality through sediment loss and nitrate leaching. Changing wintering systems to bring animals indoors shifts emphasis to greenhouse-gas emissions. Aims. To investigate the relative potential emissions to water and air when red deer are wintered outdoors on forage crops or indoors on supplements. Methods. The impacts of wintering red deer on forage or indoors were calculated for five farms, involving 32 herds containing 2167 deer over 2 years, in southern New Zealand. Animal classes included weaners, hinds and stags. Potential losses to water included sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous, while losses to air included methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia. Losses to air were calculated using current New Zealand greenhouse-gas inventory calculations and revised calculations recognising published forage, soil and bedding emissions factors not yet included in the inventory. Key results. Calculated outdoor winter feed intake was 9.5% greater than indoor measured feed intake. The average herd size of 115 deer wintered indoors for an average of 87 days would have needed 1.8 ha of winter forage crop. Potential losses of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus were calculated to be 5362, 106 and 5.2 kg per herd respectively, if wintered on crop. Total greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions calculated using current inventory emission factors were higher if deer grazed a forage crop than when wintered indoors (2.58 vs 2.41 kg CO 2 -e/head/day respectively). When revised emission factors were used, indoor wintering produced greater GHG emissions than did wintering outdoors (2.61 vs 2.28 kg CO 2 -e/head/day respectively). Implications. Variability may occur both in contaminant loss to water and emissions to air. Trade-offs between the two need to be recognised in decision-making. As the science of GHG develops, the relative ranking of different systems may change.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Effects of water-quality management mitigations on greenhouse-gas emissions from deer farms

Stevens

Casey²,

McGrouther³

2023

Anim. Prod. Sci.

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“…The per hectare GHG emission from the pastoral area increased in 2020/21 due to a higher stocking rate, but the whole farm figure decreased due to a lesser area in pasture. By comparison, the average gross GHG emission from the North Island Class 4 farm is 3.9 tonnes CO 2 e/ha, or a gross total of 1,693 tonnes CO 2 e, with a range of gross emissions across this farm class from 2.1-5.9 tonnes CO 2 e/ha (Vibart et al 2020). The carbon sequestration from the trees assumes that the conifers are eligible for the new averaging scheme 1 OverseerFM file for Pukekauri, based on whole property area.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pukekauri farm – snapshots from a sustainability journey

Dodd,

Burke,

Burke

et al. 2023

Journal of NZ Grasslands

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Pukekauri Farm is a 295 ha mixed livestock hill country property in the western Bay of Plenty. Over the last 20+ years the owners have been on a development journey with a focus on the multiple dimensions of sustainability – economic, environmental, and social. This paper seeks to document that journey, with supporting resource, production, financial and environmental data to quantify progress. Some of the most useful tools have included high quality forage crops, deferred grazing, sheep genetics, accounting software and paddock-scale soil and water resource maps. Key lessons include the value of knowledge networks and modelling tools, the power of a farm plan for optimising land use and management, the importance of both profitability and grants to underwrite development investment, and the emergence of secondary benefits from decisions focused on system-wide improvement. Over 20 years, despite areduction in grazed area of 20%, meat production has increased by 16%, EBITR/ha has increased by 6%, modelled net greenhouse gas emissions have declined by 60% and modelled N leaching has declined by 29%. Overall, the farm is easier to manage and more pleasant to dwell in.

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“…In a related study, Neal and Roche (2020) looked at profitability and resilience of pasture-based dairy farms and found that greater profit was associated with more home-grown pasture and crop eaten, higher stocking rates, higher production per cow and lower farm working expenses. The efficiency of pasturebased dairy systems is largely driven by annual pasture production, pasture utilisation and feed conversion (Vibart et al, 2012). The correlation between methane emissions and profit poses a challenge to the industry's effort to reduce methane whilst increasing or maintaining profit.…”

Section: Exploring Modifications To Case Study Farmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring farm level response to multiple drivers of change, a West Coast case study.

Chikazhe

Beukes

Dalley

et al. 2023

Journal of NZ Grasslands

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Developing resilient, profitable, and robust dairy farm businesses in response to multiple drivers of change (e.g., water quality regulations, a low carbon economy) is challenging. This study explored methods for working with dairy farmers and stakeholders from the West Coast of New Zealand to evaluate options for system change. Physical, financial, and environmental data from the study farms were analysed and benchmarked to provide farmers with information on how their financial and environmental performance compared with others. The most profitable farm had the lowest purchased nitrogen (N) surplus. However, high pasture production and utilisation resulted in higher methane emissions for this farm. FARMAX and OVERSEER models were used to apply principles of the top performing farm to two selected study farms.These study farms largely succeeded in reducing N surplus and methane emissions, but operating profit was reduced, suggesting a complete system rethink is needed including focusing on growing and harvesting more home-grown feed with less N input, and scrutiny of farm working expenses. This study showed that benchmarking, farmer participation and modelling has the potential to create a positive environment thatmotivates farmers to review their current performance, extract solutions from their local peers and partner with researchers.Keywords: Co-development, dairy farm performance, profitability, nitrogen surplus, methane emissions

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Greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand sheep and beef farms

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Effects of water-quality management mitigations on greenhouse-gas emissions from deer farms

Effects of water-quality management mitigations on greenhouse-gas emissions from deer farms

Pukekauri farm – snapshots from a sustainability journey

Exploring farm level response to multiple drivers of change, a West Coast case study.

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