Rapid assessment of feed and manure nutrient management on confinement dairy farms

Abstract

A basic function of dairy farming is to transform feed nutrients into milk to generate an economic return. As the price of feed grain escalates, and environmental concerns associated with animal agriculture heighten, many dairy producers seek new ways to track nutrient use on their farms. Relatively little information is available on feed and manure management under producer conditions. The present study provides an overview of an iterative process used to develop and apply techniques for rapid assessment of feed and manure management on confinementbased dairy farms in very different geographic settings.Information was collected on cow diets, milk production and manure management using rapid (2-3 h) survey techniques first on 41 dairy farms in Wisconsin, USA and then on two dairy farms in Shandong Province, China. In both locations, Holstein dairy cows (Bos taurus) transformed on average 22-30% of feed nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into milk. These calculated feed N use (FNUE) and feed P use (FPUE) efficiencies corresponded well to published values, but were lower than FNUE and FPUE determined under experimental conditions. Average apparent feed N intake (range of 438-635 g cow -1 d -1 ) were slightly higher than the calculated sum of N outputs in milk (98-145 g cow -1 d -1 ) and manure (328-457 g cow -1 d -1 ). Calculated manure N excretions corresponded well to literature estimates. Average manure collection efficiencies ranged from 56% to 100% in Wisconsin and 55 to 90% in Shandong. Relatively short, face-to-face interviews can provide accurate 'snap-shots' of overall feed and manure management practices on an array of confinement-based dairy farms in diverse geographic locations.

Cadmium in animal production and its potential hazard on Beijing and Fuxin farmlands

“…Certainly, many simple or complicated models were developed to predict the potential environmental impact on soil based on the toxic metals imports and exports [6,20]. However, the previous regional study proved that not much is known about feed and manure management in China, for example, on Chinese dairy farms [21,22], although Chinese farmers are accustomed to using animal manure as a soil nutrient source for more than thousands years, but people never compared its risks to its benefits because it has always been done this way. Hence, it is necessary to understand the situation of Cd in animal feeds and its residue in manures, and its potential risk on farmlands in order to ensure the reasonable use of animal manure in agriculture.…”

Resource use efficiency in urban and peri-urban sheep, goat and cattle enterprises

“…Optimization of animal feeding strategies has been described as key factor governing the economic performance of animal husbandry (Oenema and Pietrzak, 2002). Since intensive animal husbandry systems in the midst of an urban setting might lead to negative environmental externalities (Petersen et al, 2007), manure management is also a major challenge (Thys et al, 2005;Powell et al, 2008). Against this background, this study aimed at (i) investigating inflows and outflows of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) through feeds offered and dung produced in differently managed livestock enterprises; (ii) assessing the effects of seasonal variations in nutrient offer on sheep/goat and cattle performances; and (iii) quantifying use efficiencies of offered nutrients in differently managed ULP enterprises in Niamey, the capital of Niger.…”

Balance regional de nitrógeno en el sistema de producción leche-forraje de la Comarca Lagunera, México

“…Equations generated by Nennich et al (21) were used to estimate manure production and N excretion (Table 2), similar to other studies (22,23) :…”

“…Para estimar la producción de estiércol y la excreción de N se utilizaron las ecuaciones generadas por Nennich et al (21) (Cuadro 2), las cuales han sido utilizadas en estudios similares al presente (22,23) :…”