climate change mitigation and adaptation in dairy production systems of the great lakes region

Matt RuarkDept. Soil Science, UW-Madison & UW-

ExtensionMolly Jahn

Dept. Plant Genetics, UW-Madison

Climate change mitigation and

adaptation in dairy production systems of

the Great Lakes region

Award Number: 2013-68002-

20525

University of Wisconsin-MadisonCornell UniversityPenn State UniversityUniversity of MarylandUniversity of ArkansasUniversity of MichiganUniversity of WashingtonNorth Carolina A&T StateUSDA-ARS labs (x3)Innovation Center for US DairyNational Agricultural Library

30 PIs, 13 Institutions, 5 years, one heartbeat

Where Are The Dairy Cows?

95% CH4

5% CH4

What percent of the methane comes out of the backend of the cow?

Short-term (change in knowledge) Greater understanding of where GHG emissions are the

greatest in the dairy production system, where they can be reduced, and which adaptation strategies can be implemented.

Medium-term (change in behavior) Management practices are implemented by farmers to

reduce GHG emissions and adapt to climate change.Long-term (change in condition)

Reduction in GHG emissions from dairy production systems

Dairy production systems are able to adapt to changes in climate

We have kept the focus on outcomes.

Measurement Cow, Manure, and Soil Database development

Modeling Process model comparison Identify climate change scenarios and impacts

Life Cycle Assessment System boundary definition & LC inventory database Coupling of LCA and process models

ExtensionEducation

Objective topics

Cow research has focused on feeding trials using isolation chambers

Cow research has focused on feeding trials using isolation chambers

Increasing the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) will increase methane per cow, but decrease methane per unit milk.

Use of Ca(OH)2 treated corn stover in the diet could lead to an increase in digestibility without affecting performance.

Can we improve the digestibility of fiber for win-win scenarios?

Water added to obtain 50% DMCa(OH)2 added at 7.0% of mix DM

Stover +H2O

Stover + Ca(OH)2

IVNDFD30, %

40.2 57.1

11

Treated stover had no effect on milk production and decreased methane per unit milk when at 15% of DM feed.

Ca(OH)2 corn stover % DM P-value

0 5 10 15 Linear Quadratic

Milk, kg/d32.4 33.9 28.5 33.6 0.80 0.24

CH4/Milk18.8 17.7 20.0 14.4 0.06 0.08

Preliminary data, Wattiaux et al., 2016

We are interested in following the effect of management through the dairy production system.

R1 D1 DL1 DS1* DL1+DS1* R2 L2 S2 L2+S20

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Carbon Dioxide Storage Methane Storage Nitrous Oxide Storage

Carbon Dioxide Field Methane Field Nitrous Oxide Field

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Holly et al., In Review, 2016Contact Matt Ruark, mdruark@wisc.edu for details of this project

We have published the data in the Ag Data Commons.Holly, M.A., Larson, R.A., Powell, J.M., Ruark, M.D., and C. Barford. 2016. Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, and Ammonia Emissions from Digested and Separated Dairy Manure during Storage and Land Application. Ag Data Commons. (Embargoed)https://data.nal.usda.gov/dataset/carbon-dioxide-methane-nitrous-oxide-and-ammonia-emissions-digested-and-separated-dairy-0

Other feeding trialsPenn State has GHG studies on solid

manureWisconsin, Cornell, Penn State, and

USDA-ARS in Marshfield, WI have cropping system or manure application field trials

There are many, many other studies

Two scenarios: Large farm: 1500 cowsSmall farm: 150 cows

ModelsIFSMDayCENTApexDNDC

Our modeling team is conducting a systematic analysis of BMPs on GHG, N, and P across multiple agricultural models

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IFSM4.1_dig.8 ManureDNDC v3_dig.17 CNCPS6.1 DayCent.6_dig APEX0806.7_dig

GW (k

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d)

Manure - N2OManure - CH4Field - N2OField - CH4Barn_other - N2OBarn_other - CH4Barn_enteric - N2OBarn_enteric - CH4

Baseline conditionsLarge herd

Preliminary data, Olivier Joliet, Univ. Michigan, 2016

Beneficial Management Practices: Feed# Feed scenarios Characteristics0 Baseline

1 High corn silageThe amount of corn silage is increased and alfalfa/grass is reduced from a ratio of 1:1 to 3:1 in animal diets.

2 50% forage rationsLow forage rations (reduced from 65% to 50% DMI) fed to lactating cows with crop land adjusted to provide feed needed.

3 High NDF digestibility NDF digestibility of feeds is increased 2%.

4 High feed efficiency Feed efficiency is increased from about 1.5 to 1.65 kg milk/kg feed dry matter intake

5 High fat Supplemental fat in diet of lactating cows is increased from 0.4 to 0.9 kg/day per cow.

6 Reduced protein Diet protein of lactating cows is reduced from 17% to 14%.

A Combined feed Scenario A All BMPs 1 to 6 combined

B Combined feed Scenario B Same as A, except for 2, keep 65% forage

C Combined feed Scenario C Same as B with rye silage double cropped after corn silage.

Beneficial Management Practices: Manure & Soil/Crop Management

# Manure Management scenarios Characteristics0 Baseline

1 SeparationA separator is used to remove a portion of the manure solids, which are used for bedding

2 Digestion An anaerobic digester is used to create biogas and electricity used on the farm and digestate as a slurry.

3 Separation and digestion Manure separation and anaerobic digestion are both used.

4 Sealed with flareCovered manure storage with flare to burn biogas produced converting the CH4 to CO2

# Crop & field scenarios Characteristics0 Baseline1 Cover crop Annual grass cover crop following corn

2 Summer application Nine month manure storage with spring and early summer application -> N fertilizer reduced to 60 kg N/ha.

3 Rye double crop Winter rye crop established following corn silage harvest and harvested as silage in the spring.

4 Incorporated same day Manure incorporated into the soil the same day of application with N fertilizer use reduced to 40 kg N/ha.

5 No-till No-till establishment used for all crops with no incorporation of manure.

6 No-till with injectionNo-till establishment used for all crops with manure applied through subsurface injection; no N fertilizer used.

Based on evaluating all the individual BMPs, we then pared down into three realistic BMPs scenarios

# Overall combined feed, manure, crop scenarios

Characteristics

1 Overall strategy 1NDF digestibility =2%; feed efficiency +10% ; diet protein reduced to NRC minimum, anaerobic digester; manure solids are separated and used for bedding

2 Overall strategy 2 Same as 1 + no-till system with subsurface injection of manure.3 Overall strategy 3 Same as 2 + Low forage rations (50% of DMI)

We identified three BMP scenarios that reduce N and C losses and increase profitability of the system.

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Strategy 1 Strategy 2 Strategy 3

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Reactive N footprinti Carbon footprintl Net return

Preliminary data, Olivier Joliet, Univ. Michigan, 2016

http://wpsudev2.vmhost.psu.edu/virtualfarm/

http://wpsudev2.vmhost.psu.edu/virtualfarm/section/manure-processing-and-storage

http://wpsudev2.vmhost.psu.edu/virtualfarm/research/tags/manure

We have developed a Virtual Farm for a range of audiences

Built in 1970s to have a focus on international studies and agriculture

90 acres, 70 acres of usable land and a greenhouse

1990s ag program eliminatedIn 2010, the program was revitalized

through development of an aquaponics program

Vincent High School

Between 2013 and 2016, over 1,700 students have been exposed to career opportunities in agriculture and food science

School-to-school exchanges (408), field trips (240), volunteer experiences (12), FFA (3), and internships (2)

Seven teachers received training

Education objectives involve curriculum, mentoring, and collaboration

High school curriculum developed:Animal Science Food ScienceFood Science Intro to AgricultureEnvironmental Sci. Ag Career Leadership

Total Student Enrollment by Program Area:Urban Agriculture: 352Landscaping: 60Intro to Agriculture: 330 Food Science: 387Veterinarian Science: 120 Hort.: 399Animal Science: 487 Environ. Sci.: 369Agriculture Careers & Leadership: 386

Curriculum efforts have been a huge success.

On August 10th, MPS Superintendent officially approved the transformation of VHS into Vincent High School of Agricultural Sciences.

Questions?Comments?

Concerns?