On farm development of bedded pack dairy barns in The Netherlands : gaseous emissions bedding

Abstract

Summary UK Gaseous emissions of four bedded pack dairy farms were measured using the flux chamber method.One used wood chips as bedding material, the other three used compost of green waste. Emissions of ammonia per m 2 bedding area were considerably lower compared to the concrete slatted floor housing system that acted as a reference system. Due to large area per cow the emissions per cow were however 175%-475% higher compared to the reference system. Emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O)were 3.5 to 25 times higher than typical emission from the reference system. Methane emission however ranged from 6% to 25% of the reference system.

Properties of conventional and alternative bedding materials for dairy cattle

“…The fourth cluster is composed of materials with particle sizes of 4 to 16 mm. The conventional material in this group is wood chips (Van Dooren et al, 2016;Smith et al, 2017;Van Dooren et al, 2018), and the alternative bedding materials include bark mulch, conifer forest litter, P. oceanica, and triticale husks. In this group, 42% of the P. oceanica particles were in the size range of 8 to 16 mm.…”

Mitigation options to reduce GHG emissions at dairy and beef farms : results from a literature review and survey on mitigation options currently being used within the network of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (SAI Platform)

“…The risk of forming nitrous oxide in litter-based systems should be considered. With bedded pack barns nitrous oxide emissions were measured to be 3 to 26 times higher than the reference system (a concrete slatted floor with slurry storage in a pit underneath the floor) (van Dooren et al 2016). The research by WUR showed that wood chips for composting is better than composted manure in terms of animal welfare and emissions from the barn.…”

“…Low rate slurry aeration causes a reduction in chemical reaction and prevent crust formation in the slurry pit. This method is now tested in the Netherlands and a study carried out by van Dooren et al (2019a) showed that daily mixing of slurry either with air pumped into the slurry or with an electrical mixer did not result in reduction of ammonia emission. However, Calvet et al (2017) explained a reduction in the emission of CH4 by 40%.…”

Developing GHG mitigation strategies for agro-sectors : Feasibility study for the dairy sector

“…The risk of forming nitrous oxide in litter-based systems should be considered. With bedded pack barns nitrous oxide emissions were measured to be 3 to 26 times higher than the reference system (a concrete slatted floor with slurry storage in a pit underneath the floor) (van Dooren et al, 2016). The research was done in WUR showed that wood chips for composting are better than composted manure in terms of animal welfare and emissions from the barn.…”