ANIMAL-RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES THAT MAY BE CONTROLLED BY ANIMAL MANAGEMENT

1
ANIMAL-RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES THAT MAY BE
CONTROLLED BY ANIMAL MANAGEMENT

• Nitrogen
• Phosphorus
• Odors
• Greenhouse gases
• Sediment
• Species diversity

2
TOOLS TO MANAGE ANIMAL-RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL
ISSUES

• Nutritional management
• Managed grazing

3
CONTROLLING NITROGEN EXCRETION BY OPTIMIZING
PROTEIN METABOLISMMonogastrics

• Increase protein digestibility
• Lower crude protein intake
• Dietary balance
• Proteinenergy ratio
• Balance of essential amino acids
• Phenyalanine
• Valine
• Tryptophan
• Threonine
• Isoleucine
• Methionine
• Histidine
• Arginine
• Leucine
• Lysine

4
CONTROLLING NITROGEN EXCRETION BY OPTIMIZING
PROTEIN METABOLISMRuminants

• Increase protein digestibility
• Decrease N intake
• Decrease protein degradability
• Diet balance
• Carbohydrate energy
• Sulfur
• Phosphorus

A B S O R B E D
Protein
Escape
Metabolizable Protein
NPN
Protein
Degraded
Microbial protein
NH3
Excreted
Converted to urea in liver
5
MANAGING NITROGEN EXCRETION BY DAIRY COWS100 cow
herd
Crude protein, 21.3 17.1 17.1
Protein supplement Soybean meal Soybean meal Heat-treated soybean meal
Milk production, lb/day 89.8 83.1 88.9
Feed cost, /cow 3.88 3.62 3.64
N excretion, lb/yr
Urinary 25,487 17,914 16,366
Fecal 17,597 17,740 17,721
Total 43,085 35,654 34,087
6
CONTROLLING PHOSPHORUS EXCRETION BY OPTIMIZING
NUTRITION

• Lower P intake
• Phase feeding
• Feed phytase to monogastrics
• 50 of the phosphorus in most feeds is bound to
  phytic acid
• Feed low phytate corn and soybeans to
  monogastrics
• Dietary balance
• CaP ratio
• Vitamin D metabolites

7
MANAGING PHOSPHORUS EXCRETION BY DAIRY COWS100
cow herd
P concentration, .45 .39 .36
Milk production, lb/cow 89.8 90.3 90.6
/cow 3.88 3.85 3.83
Excreted, lb/yr
Urinary 118 108 102
Fecal 4,540 3,565 2,992
Total 4,658 3,673 3,094
P balance, g/day 10 -1 -7
8
GREENHOUSE GASES

• Carbon dioxide
• Methane (CH4)
• 21 x the greenhouse effects of CO2
• Nitrous oxide
• 310 x the greenhouse effects of CO2

9
SOURCE STRENGTHS OF GHG EMISSIONS FROM DIFFERENT
BEEF AND DAIRY OPERATIONS
U.S. Beef cow-feedlot CA Dairy Wis Dairy NZ Grazing-based Dairy
kg carbon dioxide equivalent/kg product kg carbon dioxide equivalent/kg product kg carbon dioxide equivalent/kg product kg carbon dioxide equivalent/kg product
Enteric methane 5.5 .36 .41 .60
Manure methane .14 .21 .03 .04
Nitrous oxide 8.1 .37 .42 .76
Carbon dioxide 1.8 .33 .57 .22
Total GHG 15.5 1.26 1.38 1.62
10
WHY IS METHANE PRODUCED?
11
CONTROLLING METHANE PRODUCTION BY RUMINANTS
THROUGH DIET MANAGEMENT

• Increase the proportion of grain and decrease the
  proportion of forage in the diet
• Must have a minimum of 50 forage in dairy diets
  and 10 in feedlot diets
• Grind forage
• Feed ionophores
• Monensin
• Lasalocid
• Salinomycin
• Feed unsaturated fatty acids
• Maximum 5 of diet dry matter

12
EFFECTS OF GRAZING ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

• Well-managed grazing
• Optimize forage productivity and nutritional
  quality
• Maximize forage species diversity
• Improve efficiency of forage utilization
• Maintains forage cover on streambanks
• Minimize soil erosion
• Minimize P loading of streams
• Minimize soil compaction and trailing
• Maximize manure nutrient distribution

• Poorly managed grazing
• Reduced forage productivity and quality
• Minimize forage species diversity
• Weed infestation
• Loss of streambank cover
• Stream widening and loss of aquatic habitat
• Increased soil erosion
• Increased P loading of streams
• Increased soil compaction
• Increased cow paths
• Poor manure distribution

13
KEY TO SUSTAINABILITY OF GRAZING LANDS

• Managing vegetative cover through
• Feed for grazing livestock
• Hold soil into place
• Filter water
• Recycle nutrients

14
EFFECTS OF FORAGE CANOPY HEIGHT ON GROUND COVER,
INFILTRATION RATE, AND EROSION RATE AFTER
TREADING AT THREE RATES ON A NEW ZEALAND HILL
COUNTRY PASTURE
15
COMPONENTS OF GOOD GRAZING MANAGEMENT

• Appropriate stocking rate
• Neither too low or high
• Flexible management to maintain forage quality
• Adjust stocking rate
• Hay harvest
• Appropriate rest periods
• Based on forage growth rate
• 15 days early summer
• 35 days in mid-summer
• Appropriate design
• Number of paddocks
• 8 12 for rest
• 24 36 for grazing efficiency
• Square paddocks
• Water in each paddock

16
CALCULATING THE LENGTH OF OCCUPANCY FOR PADDOCKS

• Estimate forage yield
• Estimate total forage in 5 ac paddock
• Estimate available forage in paddock
• Estimate forage intake by fifty 1250 lb cow-calf
  pairs
• Calculate days/paddock
• Calculate total paddocks
• Calculate total acres

• 15 cm x 110 lb/ac/cm 1650 lb/ac
• 1650 lb/ac x 10 ac 16,500 lb
• 16,500 lb x 50 8250 lb
• 50 x 1250 x 3.5 BW 2188 lb/day
• 8250 lb/pad / 2188 lb/day 3.8 days
• 35 days rest/3.8 days 1 10.2 paddocks
• 10.2 paddocks x 10 ac/pad 100 ac

17
FORAGE AVAILABILITY THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
18
ARRANGEMENT OF TREATMENTS(June, 2002)
19
MEASUREMENT OF SEDIMENT AND PHOSPHORUS
LOSSESRainfall simulations

• Frequency
• June, August, October, and April
• Locations
• 3 in 2 slope classes within each paddock
• 3 in each buffer strip at paddock base
• 3 in each buffer strip 30 ft from paddock base
• Rainfall rate
• 2.8 inches/hour
• Duration
• 1.5 hours

20
EFFECTS OF FORAGE TREATMENTS ON ANNUAL SEDIMENT
FLOW(Year 1)
21
EFFECTS OF FORAGE TREATMENTS ON ANNUAL TOTAL AND
SOLUBLE PHOSPHORUS FLOW(Year 1)