{"id":10989,"date":"2014-05-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/better-production-less-nitrogen\/"},"modified":"2014-05-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-30T12:00:00","slug":"better-production-less-nitrogen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/better-production-less-nitrogen\/","title":{"rendered":"Better production, less nitrogen"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\u201cIf you took at breeding strategy and production system that uses a high proportion of feed for milk production, it will mean by default a lower proportion of feed and losses related to maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He maintains this view has underscored much of the company\u2019s work and is a key driver behind its New Zealand Merit Index<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile similar to Breeding Worth (BW) index the subtle difference is it is keyed at 400kg MS\/cow production systems where the cost of energy and losses for maintenance and diluted against the higher milk output. Almost coincidentally you will have a cow with a reduced environmental footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost a decade ago Dexcel had a short-lived philosophy to have national production lifted to 400kg MS\/cow\/year, a good philosophy he believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, those production gains are the low hanging fruit for the industry. With an industry average of only 340kg MS\/cow \u2026 the environmental losses are just too high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beatson said CRV Ambreed had its eyes wide open about the complex issue of lowering dairy herd nitrogen and methane losses, but it was a tough area to measure.<\/p>\n

Head of LIC research and development Dr Richard Spelman said the 2012 trial<\/a> of high BW cows against low for nitrogen losses highlights the potential for some genetic contribution to a lower nutrient loss footprint.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of traits we measure on animals have been sex limited, such as milk production or fertility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut with feed conversion efficiency and lactation, some of these traits are not limited to dams alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

But measuring nitrogen losses from cows can be a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cNitrogen levels can vary based on things like when the cow last ate, and we need repeated, consistent measures,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cProxy measures like somatic cell counts are for mastitis would be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dairy industry would end up with a more environmentally friendly cow due to improved feed conversion efficiency that evolved from higher BW. Over 10 years an average BW increase of 100 should yield an additional 20kg MS.<\/p>\n

He compares the average per cow production back in 1992-93 of 260kg MS to the 2012-13 average of 346kg MS.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo produce the same amount of milksolids today with such a cow would require over five million cows.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he and Dr Jeremy Bryant of NZ Animal Evaluation point to the need for farmers to reduce stock numbers as genetic gains deliver higher-producing, more feed-efficient cows. Bryant said a rule of thumb was to allow for improved output per cow equating to reducing cow numbers by one cow\/300 annually, offering another five tonnes of additional feed\/300 cows\/year to realise it from supplements or improved pasture species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The single greatest step to lowering the national herd\u2019s nitrogen footprint is to boost milksolids (MS) production per cow nationally, CRV Ambreed genetic development strategist Phil Beatson believes.\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":10990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t