Sustainable Agriculture - Christoph Wand - 21

Sustainable Livestock

Need Sustainable Crops

2017 Eastern Ontario Crop Conference

Christoph Wand

OMAFRA Livestock Sustainability Specialist

@CtophWand

Today:

• What is ‘Sustainability’?

• Sustainability initiatives in Agriculture

• An example of a sustainable farm (model)

• If time permits – ‘token crop content’

– annual forages

Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beefwww.grsbeef.org

Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beefwww.crsb.ca

Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI)www.saiplatform.org

Vision

The Canadian beef industry is recognized globally

to be economically viable, environmentally sound

and socially responsible.

Sustainability Initiatives

Nick Betts

Christoph Wand

10 October 2016

Motivation Continuum

…there are constraints

for our production

(biophysical, ecological,

economic, social).

…we need to better

communicate the

status quo.

We need to better, because…

A definition of Sustainable Agriculture

"Sustainable agriculture is the efficient production of

safe, high quality agricultural products, in a way that

protects and improves the natural environment, the

social and economic conditions of farmers, their

employees and local communities, and safeguards the

health and welfare of all farmed species.”

What is SAI Platform ?

Sustainable Agriculture Initiative

SAI Platform is the global initiative helping food and drink companies to achieve sustainable production and

sourcing of agricultural raw materials.



Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops

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About the CRSC

Vision:

The Canadian Grains sector is recognized globally to

be economically viable, socially responsible, and a

leader in the adoption of environmentally

sustainable production practices.

C l i m a t e c h a n ge i m p a c t s

Ontario’s performance:

Better than the international average

Fully comparable to North American average

Source: MacLeod, M., Gerber, P., Mottet, a, Tempio, G., Falcucci, a, Opio, C., … Steinfeld, H. (2013). Greenhouse gas emissions from pig and chicken supply chains –A global life cycle assessment.

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World North America Ontario

kg C

O2

-eq

/ k

g C

W p

ork

Carbon footprint of industrial swine production

The proAction® Initiative

The Sustainable Farm and Food Initiative is being developed by a

coalition of Ontario farm organizations in collaboration with

representatives from the food and beverage sector, academia,

and non-government organizations.

The goal is to develop an understanding of the sector’s needs

through a consultation process that will include stakeholders

across the value chain. The long-term intent of the initiative is to

clarify and streamline sustainability initiatives by benchmarking

program equivalencies and harmonizing verification standards.

Sustainability Initiatives

Nick Betts

Christoph Wand

10 October 2016

Why Livestock? Animal Protein!

Feed/Feeding is a Large Part

of Livestock Footprint



Nutrient Use in Ecological System

Animal

Manure

Soil

Plant

Nutrient Use – Agroecology

Animal

Manure

Soil

Plant / Feed

Fertilizer

Nutrient Use – Two Site

Animal

Manure

Soil

Plant / Feed

Fertilizer

Livestock Effects

via Dissociated Feed Production

• Reduction of forages in rotations (grains more

easily mechanized)

• Soil erosion

• Nutrient depletion and accumulation

• Reduced biodiversity

• GHGs (soil carbon oxidation, fuel, N fertilizer)

• Footprint per gram animal protein amplified as

characterized by feed conversion

Presentation 2 Livestock Operations Rooted in

Sustainable Agronomics

Kassia (VanVeen) VandenBergLivestock Sustainability Outreach Project Lead

Undergraduate Student Experiential Learning Program

Project Purpose

• Original question: what is the environmentally viable level and mix of livestock in Ontario? • Livestock production in tonnes of protein

• Provide thought-provoking basis for the answer

• Using a theoretical farm

• Come at it from two perspectives• Livestock feed requirements and manure output

• Ideal crop rotations and crop inputs

Project Concept

• Represent Ontario by 1000 acres

• Land class

• Ideal crop rotation

• Yields, convert to feed (tonnes)

• Four livestock species

• Feed consumption/year (tonnes)

• Manure output (nutrient profile vs crop requirement)

• Bedding usage/species

• Measure livestock production in value of protein production for each species

Model Farm Land Type

• GIS Data collection

• Categorized each county, chose top 90-100% ag productive land counties

• Essex, Lambton, Kent, Elgin, Perth, Middlesex, & Oxford

Farm Layout

• 25% marginal land

• 70% agricultural productive land

• 5% environmentally sensitive land

1000 Acre Breakdown• Marginal Land: 250 acres

• Agriculture Productive Land: 700 acres

• Environmentally Sensitive Land: 50 acres

Scaled Representation of “Model Farm”

Environmentally Beneficial Rotation

• Fours year forage

• Prevent erosion

• Water filtration

• Soil health

• Nitrogen supply for next crop

• Increasing diversity C-S-W compared to C-C or C-S

• Increases average yields

• Assumed >3.5% organic matter

• Allow residue removal such as corn silage

fieldcropnews

Crop Rotation

• 10 year cycle

• Corn Soy Wheat (cover crop)

• Forage Forage Forage Forage

• Corn Soy Wheat (cover crop)

jamesvalleyctc

Agriculturally Productive Land

Marginal Land & Total Acreage

• Planted 40% of 250 Marginal Land acres as forage

• Grazed by cattle

Crop – Feed Linkages

• Convert each crop into tonnes

• Convert from tons to tonnes

• Standard bushel/tonne values•

Beef - Cows• Dry cows barn fed Dec-April

• 2.5% of their body weight (1400 lbs - 635 kg)

• Lactating cows pasture fed May-Nov• including calf at side

• 5% of body weight (1400 lbs – 635 kg)

Beef - Young Stock & Feedlot• Young stock fed same manner as cows

• 15-20% of cow numbers kept back

• Feedlot cattle on feed 145 days

• 2.25% of body weight consumed (1200 lbs – 545 kg)

Beef Yearly Feed Consumption

• 1 cow, 0.2 young stock, and 0.8 feedlot

Dairy

• Holstein cattle

• Dry cow diet

• 70% forage

• 30% corn silage

• Milking cow diet

• 60% forage

• 40% grain corn

• Heifers (25 months at calving)

• 70% forage

• 30% corn silage

Morning Ag Clips

Dairy Yearly Feed Consumption

• 1 cow, and 0.8 heifers

Poultry - Layers

• 4 stages of production (begin at 19 weeks)

Poultry - Broilers

• 6 ½ turns/year, all in all out

Swine Yearly Feed Consumption

• 1 sow and 23.25 piglets (wean till market)

Meat Protein

• Dressing Percentage (DP)

• % of live animal as carcass

• Carcass Cutting Yield (CCY)

• % of carcass as meat

• Protein percentage of meat

ken’smeat

Milk Protein

• 9238 kg milk/year per cow

• 3% protein

• 277.14 kg protein yearly per cow

Telegraph.co.uk

Egg Protein

• 90% egg production

• 329 eggs per year

• 6 g protein per egg

• 1.971 kg protein yearly per layer

Telegraph.co.uk

Pairing Monogastrics & Ruminants

• Primary focus maximizing forages

• Cannot maximize all feed with just pairs

• Protein production can be high with pairs despite crop usage

• Dairy & Swine, Beef & Broilers over 50 tonnes

• Need to maximize both values

• Groups of species

• Again, maximize forages first

Beef & Broilers

• 170 beef cows

• 19, 250 broilers

• Protein: 51.605 tonnes

• Yield Usage• Silage Corn 55%

• Grain Corn 67%

• Soybean Meal 99.82%

• W.Wheat 55%

• Forages 96%

Dairy & Swine

• 172 Dairy cows

• 10 Sows



• Grain Corn 105%


• W.Wheat 5.7%

• Forages 61.5%

Beef, Dairy & Broilers

• 120 Beef

• 70 Dairy

• 19,000 Broilers



• Grain Corn 99.25%


• W.Wheat 49.1%

• Forages 93.42%

Beef, Dairy & Broilers - 2

• 100 beef cows

• 120 dairy cows

• 8000 broilers


• Yield Usage• Silage Corn 75.6%



• W.Wheat 25.9%

• Forages 99.91%

Beef, Dairy, Swine & Broilers

• 110 Beef cows

• 20 Sows

• 50 Dairy cows

• 17,250 Broilers


• Yield Usage• Silage Corn 53.6%



• W.Wheat 56.2%

• Forages 80.57%

Protein Yield (Tonnes) by Systems Mix

Return to Mixed Farming? Yes and No

• This model accepts economies of scale are still

required

• There are crop and feed budget interactions that

cannot be ignored

• Achievable in alternative models:

– Multi-enterprise large farms

– Via crop allocation among independent farmers

– Any system that gets forages on all soils in the rotation

Today:

• What is ‘Sustainability’?

• Sustainability initiatives in Agriculture

• An example of a sustainable farm (model)

• If time permits – ‘token crop content’

– annual forages

Dry Yield

(0%

Moisture)

Total Digestible Nutrients

(TDN)

Energy

Content

Energy Yield

Harvested

Crop - tonne/ha - % - tonne/ha -

Barley 1.2 b 76.6 a 0.88 b

Oats (120 kg/ha) 2.4 a 74.4 a 1.80 a

Oats (80 kg/ha) 2.3 a 74.3 a 1.75 a

Oats + Peas 2.2 a 74.8 a 1.64 a

se++ 0.22 8.9 160.3

Table 1. Cereal crop variety and seeding rate effects on average

yield and TDN content harvested at boot stage with 50 kg-N/ha at

the Elora and Woodstock research station trials that evaluated fall

harvested cereals in 2013 and 2014 (Adapted from Deen et al.,

unpublished 2016).

Note: Results for dry yields, energy content and energy yields with differing superscripts and different fill

colour are statistically different.

Table 2. Cereal crop varieties in 2014 only, a year where plots included

triticale. Effects on average yield and TDN content harvested at boot

stage with 50 kg-N/ha at the Elora station evaluating fall harvested

cereals. (Adapted from Deen et al., unpublished 2016).

Crop

Dry Yield

(0% Moisture)

Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN)

Energy Content

Energy Yield

Harvested

- tonne/ha - % - tonne/ha -

Barley 1.3 d 76.7 a 0.99 d

Oats (120 kg/ha) 2.8 a,b 72.6 a 2.05 a,b

Oats (80 kg/ha) 2.9 a 73.5 a 2.15 a

Oats + Peas 2.5 b 73.5 a 1.86 b

Triticale 2.0 c 75.2 a 1.41 c

se++ 0.12 15.9 97.5



Forage-After-Wheat Recipe:

80 kg per ha of oats seeded ASAP after wheat harvest

50 kg of N per ha

Pray for rain

Plan to harvest as silage by the end of October

Quality by maturity stage is not greatly affected by early

November, but likely will only make ‘boot’

Stage Average

Date

Yield

(0%

Moisture)

Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN)

Crop Stage Content Harvested

All Head - T/ha - - % - - T/ha -

Rye Head June 3 4.0 c 68.6 a 2.740 b

Triticale (Fridge) Head June 16 4.8 ab 63.3 c 2.968 ab

Triticale (Pika) Head June 16 5.2 a 64.9 bc 3.335 a

Wheat Head June 16 4.3 bc 67.6 ab 2.877 b

Rye Head

Rye Head June 3 4.0 a 68.6 b 2.740 a

Triticale (Fridge) Boot June 5 2.7 b 75.5 a 2.033 b

Triticale (Pika) Boot June 5 2.9 b 76.3 a 2.218 b

Wheat Boot June 6 2.6 b 77.6 a 1.985 b

Rye Boot

Rye Boot May 29 3.0 a 74.4 b 2.206 a

Triticale (Fridge) Flag May 31 2.0 b 78.7 a 1.524 b

Triticale (Pika) Flag May 31 2.3 ab 77.6 ab 1.742 ab

Wheat Flag June 1 1.9 b 77.1 ab 1.440 b

Table 3. Average yield, total digestible nutrient content and the stage

of development of spring harvested cereals on similar harvest dates

at the research station trials (2014-2015). Fertilizer N rate applied

was 50 kg-N/ha. (Adapted from Deen et al., unpublished 2016).



Advice to Producers: What can you do?

• Use nutrients and energy carefully

• Increase diversity in feed production and

improve field practices

– Crop rotation

• (eg Corn/Soy vs. Corn/Soy/Wheat/Forages)

– Advantageous timing of manures

• Assuming $$$ to be a proxy for carbon and

nutrients: be profitable!

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Sustainable Livestock

Need Sustainable Crops

2017 Eastern Ontario Crop Conference

Christoph Wand

OMAFRA Livestock Sustainability Specialist

@CtophWand