An economic and greenhouse gas emissions evaluation of pasture-based dairy calf-to-beef production systems

Murphy, Brian; Crosson, P.; Kelly, A. K.; Prendiville, R.

doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2017.03.007

Cited by 42 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Similarly, during their first summer SB Holstein-Friesian steers achieved an ADG of 0.68kg/d on a grass only diet [ 25 ]. Murphy et al [ 26 ] reported an ADG of 0.88 kg/d for SB bulls offered 2 kg concentrate supplementation at pasture, which is similar to that observed from SB G2 bulls in the current study. The HA production system resulted in an ADG of more than double that of G for both the AB and SB bulls.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

The Effect of Beef Production System on the Health, Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Holstein Bulls

Rutherford

Gordon

Arnott

et al. 2020

Animals

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of production system on the health, performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of autumn born (AB) and spring born (SB) Holstein bulls. The study involved a total of 224 Holstein bulls and was conducted over two years (2017/18, 2018/19). The four production system treatments differed during the grower period and consisted of: (i) grazed with no concentrate supplementation (G), (ii) grazed with 2 kg concentrate supplementation per day (G2), (iii) grazed with ad libitum access to concentrates (GA) and (iv) housed with ad libitum access to concentrates and grass silage (HA). All bulls were finished on ad libitum concentrates and grass silage and were slaughtered at a mean age of 15.5 months. Total grower dry matter intake (DMI) (p < 0.001) and total finishing DMI (p < 0.001) differed between production systems for both AB and SB bulls, with that of GA bulls being the greatest in both cases. Average daily gain (ADG) during the grower period was greatest (p < 0.001) for the HA production system in the AB bulls and the GA and HA production systems for the SB bulls. However, during the finishing period, G bulls had the greatest (p < 0.001) ADG of the AB bulls, while that of the SB bulls was from the G2 production system (p < 0.001). For both AB and SB, bulls on the GA and HA production systems produced heavier cold carcass weights than the G and G2 bulls (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in health, carcass conformation, fat classification, or meat quality between production systems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

The Effect of Beef Production System on the Health, Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Holstein Bulls

Rutherford

Gordon

Arnott

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…However, current UK market specifications dictate that dairy bulls be slaughtered at less the 16 months of age and achieve a fat score of 6 or greater (Dawn Meats 2011). Fat scores achieved in the current study were consistent with that previously reported for dairy bulls finished on high concentrate or concentrate ad libitum diets (Kirkland et al 2007, Murphy et al 2017a). The energy density of the finishing diet in the present study increased from 0.96 (UFV) kg -1 (B) to 0.98 UFV kg -1 (BM) to 1.03 UFV kg -1 (BRPF) to evaluate the effects on fat score.…”

Section: Finishing Phasesupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Bull beef production systems have the potential to increase carcass output per hectare by slaughtering animals at a younger age and produce less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than steer beef systems (Nogalski et al 2014, Murphy et al 2017a. Currently, 13% of male animals are slaughtered as bulls in Ireland (Bord Bia 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative finishing strategies for Holstein-Friesian bulls slaughtered at 15 months of age

Murphy

Kelly

Prendiville

2018

AFSci

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The aim was to establish the optimum finishing strategy (FS) for dairy bulls slaughtered at 15 months. Sixty spring-born calves were assigned to one of four FS. The FS were split into two phases; pasture (PAS) from mid-August to housing (P1) and finished indoors on concentrates ad libitum plus straw for 209 d (P2). Treatment 1 (T1) was offered PAS in P1 and 800 g kg-1 barley (BAR), 140 g kg-1 soya bean meal (SBM), 40 g kg-1 molasses and 20 g kg-1 minerals (B) in P2. Treatments 2 (T2) and 3 (T3) were offered 3 kg dry matter (DM) of B per head daily at PAS. In P2, T2 was offered B while T3 was offered 400 g kg-1 BAR, 400 g kg-1 maize meal, 140 g kg-1 SBM, 40 g kg-1 molasses and 20 g kg-1 minerals (BM). In P1 treatment 4 (T4) was offered 3 kg DM of BM per head daily at PAS and 750 g kg-1 BAR, 140 g kg-1 SBM, 50 g kg-1 rumen protected fat, 40 g kg-1 molasses and 20 g kg-1 minerals in P2. Finishing strategy did not affect lifetime average daily gain or carcass conformation. Fat score tended (p=0.0514) to be greater for T3 than T1 and T4.

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“…Livestock age determines the animal weight, energy expenditure, and energy storage ability (Ådnøy et al 2005). In a highly managed system, it also closely relates to the local slaughtering strategy, which connects to the social and economic aspects of the administrate divisions in the region (Murphy et al 2017, Pacheco et al 2015. For example, the typical slaughter age of Kazakh sheep for meat is from 12-60 months, while the corresponding slaughter age in Inner Mongolia is much shorter due to increasing meat demands (Kosilov et al 2015, Qi et al 2017, Shi and Cui 2015, Torgerson et al 2009, Xiaobing et al 2015.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Great uncertainties in modeling grazing impact on carbon sequestration: a multi-model inter-comparison in temperate Eurasian Steppe

Chen

Tao

Cheng

et al. 2018

Environ. Res. Lett.

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The impact of grazing activity on terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration has been noticed and studied worldwide. Recent efforts have been made to incorporate the disturbance into process-based land models. However, the performance of grazing models has not been well investigated at large scales. In this study, we performed a spatially explicit model uncertainty assessment in the world's largest pasture ecosystem, the temperate Eurasian Steppe. Five grazing models were explicitly incorporated into a single terrestrial biogeochemical model to simulate regional C consumption from grazing activity (C graze ). First, we summarized the underlying mechanisms and explicitly compared the general functions used to describe the processes in different models. Then, the models (five models with 12 simulations) were run in parallel using the same forcing data and livestock distribution map in 2006. Results indicated that the modeled regional C graze varied from 0.1-16.1 gC m −2 for the year. The corresponding ratios of C graze to aboveground net primary productivity ANPP and net primary productivity (NPP) ranged from 0.08%-24.6% and 0.028%-11.2%, respectively. Parameter sensitivity was further analyzed. Model outputs are highly sensitive to the intake rate (i.e. feeding rate of livestock per day), half maximum intake rate, and initial livestock weight. Our results indicate that great uncertainty exists in simulating C graze . We ascribed the major uncertainty to the different process description and poor parameterization. This study calls for more efforts to the comprehensive synthesis of usable dataset, the foundation of a standard observation system and the observe-based inter-comparison to evaluate models, which would facilitate more accurate assessment of C sequestration by pasture ecosystems and lead to better representation in earth system models.

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An economic and greenhouse gas emissions evaluation of pasture-based dairy calf-to-beef production systems

Cited by 42 publications

References 26 publications

The Effect of Beef Production System on the Health, Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Holstein Bulls

The Effect of Beef Production System on the Health, Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Quality of Holstein Bulls

Alternative finishing strategies for Holstein-Friesian bulls slaughtered at 15 months of age

Great uncertainties in modeling grazing impact on carbon sequestration: a multi-model inter-comparison in temperate Eurasian Steppe

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