Dairy to Reduce Green House Gases

About a week ago the headlines stated that the U.S. dairy industry agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% before 2020.  This reduction is estimated to come from expanding the use of methane digesters on dairy farms.  Methane digesters are a technology that is currently in use on about 2% of U.S. dairies, and allows for production of energy from the digestion of manure.  It is estimated that one 700-cow dairy herd can power 200 homes with electricity.

This is a lofty goal and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered on this front.  For one, there is not good data on green house gas emissions from dairy farms because there are a  number of factors from the diet to facilities that can impact green house gas loss from the farm.  The other issue with betting all of these green house gas emissions reductions on this technology is that installing a methane digester on a farm can be pretty expensive, and, to date, has only been feasible on larger dairy farms.  There is technology out there for use on small farms, but it is not widespread at this point. 

I don't want to sound too down on this goal as it would be great if the dairy industry reached it.  However, I'm a little concerned about how many dairy farmers out there know what they have been volunteered for, and I have concerns about whether the technology has come down in price enough for small farms.

Although we are still working on water quality concerns associated with agriculture, the powers that be are shifting the attention to the next frontier, air quality, and we need to be addressing this as much as possible. 

Simple Steps to Deal With the Chesapeake Bay Regulations

I’ve been to a lot of meetings lately on the new Chesapeake Bay regulations and TMDLs (total maximum daily loads), which have been very informative, yet there are still a number of details that have to be worked out. However, one thing is very clear from these meetings, with EPA taking the lead there is a great deal of will to get the bay cleaned up for good. This is a watershed-wide initiative that includes six states and Washington D.C., but Lancaster County is, and will continue to be, an area of focus. At this point I see no need to panic, but awareness of the issues at hand and realizing that stricter regulations and enforcement of current laws is likely and may impact farms in the region is a good place to start. So what can you do to prepare your farm for these new regulations? First, check with your local conservation district to confirm what current rules and regulations are on the books that may apply to your farm. Second, I have listed four simple practices that can be taken that will give you a step ahead on these regulations, whatever they might be. These practices will also improve your farm management right now and may even improve your bottom-line.

1) Measure dry matter of wet forages weekly. If the dry matter on forages changes drastically and rations are not adjusted the nutrient content of the diet will also change. Therefore, you could be feeding more protein or other nutrients than the cow needs, which is not good for the environment or your feed costs.

2) Feed what is on the sheet. Nutritionists use very precise ration formulation programs and spend a lot of time developing rations. Intentional or unintentional deviations from the ration on paper can negatively impact milk production and nutrient utilization. Checking scales and monitoring mixing more closely are simply steps to address this problem.

3) Monitor milk urea nitrogen (MUN). Milk cooperatives can monitor MUN on the bulk tank, and DHIA can monitor MUN on individual cows. Regardless of what method you use to monitor MUN, it is a good measure of how well the cows are utilizing the protein in the ration. There can be a lot of variation in this number, but trends over time can be identified. Ration and feed management issues may need to be addressed if your farm consistently has high MUN. With protein being one of the most expensive nutrients in the ration this is a must.

4) Keep cows out of the streams. This is considered very low hanging fruit from a water quality standpoint and I don’t see anyway to get around this issue other than to fence cows out of the stream. Although the current regulations require extensive buffers (35-100 ft), I think we may get some compromise on this and just a few feet might be enough. Stay tuned on this issue.

These suggestions are relatively simple on paper, in practice they may be a little more complicated, but there is help. Penn State Extension and the local conservation districts have the expertise and the tools to help implement these new management practices. The reality is that water quality regulations will only get stricter, and like other regulations in the dairy industry, these will be what you need to do if you want to continue in the dairy business.

Swine and Poultry and Air Quality

I realized my dairy bias is really showing through in this blog so in an effort to try to expand my horizons I found a nice article on air quality concerns related to swine and poultry. This is another article from the Manure Du Jour series hosted last year. Another series of Manure Du Jour will be starting up again the first of the year so stay tuned for the schedule.

What are the major sources of greenhouse gas from swine and poultry operations?

The majority of methane and nitrous oxide from swine and poultry operations is emitted from buildings, manure storage, and land application of manure.

What strategies are available to reduce greenhouse gas?

A number of the strategies shown below reduce the potential for GHG emissions and in some cases, the amount of manure nutrients.

• Reducing the amount of waste excreted from the animal decreases the potential for formation of greenhouse gases during manure storage.
• Healthy herds use feed efficiently, and can reduce nitrogen excretion by ten percent compared to unhealthy herds.
• Animals with genetic lines predisposed to high feed efficiency also excrete fewer nutrients in urine and feces.
• Split-sex feeding enables producers to feed each sex closer to its nutritional requirements.
• Phase feeding allows producers to better match nutrients to the changing growth requirements.
• Enzymes, such as phytase, improve the digestibility of protein and reduce nitrogen excretion in manure. A low protein diet can reduce both fecal nitrogen and carbon dioxide production.
• Wet-dry feeders increase efficiency by reducing the amount of feed required to achieve a desired weight gain

What are the EPA reporting requirements for greenhouse gas from animal agriculture?
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed national reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Under these reporting requirements, large-, direct emitters of 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxice equivalents or more must report GHG emissions to the EPA. Only emissions from manure management systems are expected to fall under these reporting requirements.

View the “Air Quality Nutrition and Greenhouse Gases” epi­sode of Manure Du Jour on the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Web site: aec.cas.psu.edu/news/webinar_archives.asp. Special thanks are given to Dr. Wendy Powers, Departments of Animal Science and Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, for presenting the information on this topic.

Update on Chesapeake Bay TMDL

I went to a listening session on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL yesterday and things are getting a little clearer.

The current state of things is:

• Pennsylvania contributes 41% of N and 24% of P to the bay.
• Agriculture in Pennsylvania contributes 52% of the N and 50% of the P.
• The bay can handle 200 million lbs of N per year and 15 million lbs of P per year.
  
• The target loads for PA are 73.6 million lbs of N and 3.16 million lbs of P.
  
• The current loads as of 2008 are 118 million lbs of N and 4 million lbs of P.

How is the TMDL going to work? They are dividing the Chesapeake Bay into 92 segments (only two segments in Pennsylvania) based on watersheds. Total allowable loads of N and P will be rationed out to the states and then the states will decide how to rations those loads out even further to non-point and point source pollutors. The division of nutrient loading amongest the states is that the worst waterways are expected to do the most. From the view here in Lancaster County, we will be expected to do a lot! However, the good news is that we will get credit for all the good practices we have already implemented.

Cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay is going to be, and has been, a huge undertaking, but if we can get all 17 million people who live is the watershed to do there own small part it will be a lot easier.

If you are interested in learning more about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL check out the EPA website epa.gov/chesapeakebayTMDL

Draft Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay

The draft strategy for the Chesapeake Bay just came out today and although I haven't read all 99 pages yet the summary version gave some good insights into what might be in the full draft. For those of you who haven't heard about this, in May 2009 President Obama released an executive order stating that the Chesapeake Bay is a priority for the federal government. The strategy for the bay is very comprehensive and supports three main areas:

• Restore Clean Water
• Conserve treasured places and restore habitats, fish, and wildlife
• Adapt to the impacts of climate change

These actions will be achieved through the following means:

• Empower local efforts
• Decision-making through science
• New era of federal leadership

The main strategy is to develop a TMDL for the entire bay that will set pollutant limits for N, P, and sediment. Agriculture will play a big part in the restoration of the bay and will likely face greater pressure to reduce N, P, and sediment contributions to local waterways. It is unclear what the new world might look like for agriculture, but the more proactive we can be the better. Below is a link to the Chesapeake Bay Executive Order web site that has the full report and a shorter summary. There is a 60 day comment period on this report so get involved.

http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.net/