Resource use and economic impacts in the transition from small confinement to pasture-based dairies

Abstract

In recent years, many livestock farms have transitioned from total confinement housing to a pasture-based system in an effort to reduce labor and production costs and improve profitability. There is a growing interest in biogas recovery among livestock producers to reduce energy costs and manure odors but the economic benefits of anaerobic digestion (AD) on small farms is not well known. A comprehensive analysis was conducted using the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM), to describe, evaluate and compare the farm performance and economic impacts of representative dairy farms in Michigan transitioning from conventional confinement to seasonaland pasture-based systems, and evaluate the potential for integration of an AD in the confinement and seasonal pasture systems. The results in farm performance present higher milk production per kilogram of feed in the confinement systems, followed by the seasonal pasture and the annual pasture systems. In the economic analysis, the annual pasture-based system had the greatest net return to management and unpaid factors followed by the seasonal pasture and confinement systems. The addition of an AD on a 100-cow, total confinement dairy decreased the net return to management and unpaid factors by 20%. When anaerobic digestion was added to the seasonal pasture with an increased land base for cash crop production and an imported manure volume equivalent to a 500-cow dairy, the net return to management and unpaid factors increased 269% compared to the seasonal pasture dairy alone.

Nanosilica modulates C:N:P stoichiometry attenuating phosphorus toxicity more than deficiency in Megathyrsus maximus cultivated in an Oxisol and Entisol

“…Forage plants (Poaceae) are found in different countries 1 , constituting the main feed source in cattle raised worldwide 2 . Forage cultivated in tropical soils are subjected to nutritional stress due to the limitation of nutrients in the soil (especially P), which is a fact of worldwide occurrence in pasture production 3 , 4 .…”

Soil nitrate leaching under grazed cool‐season grass pastures of the North Central US

“…20,46,47 Of course, all of these benefits come with an important tradeoff, milk cows on pasture yield approximately 40% less milk on a per cow basis than those fed in confinement on a mixed ration diet. 40,48 In addition, the lower productivity of pastures compared to grain crops mean that significantly more land than is currently used to feed confined livestock must be converted to perennial pasture to continue current production levels. However, this should be viewed as a benefit on two fronts: (i) oversupply of milk has driven low milk prices resulting in massive loss of family farms and associated community decline and (ii) much of the land that could be transitioned to pasture is currently in cash-grain production that feeds anti-biotic-and nutrient-concentrating livestock feedlots, fossil fuel-intensive ethanol production, unhealthy food additives and export markets.…”

“…Compared to confinement operations, managed grazing can be (i) more profitable on a per cow, per milk, and per area basis 39,40 ; (ii) more likely to build soil carbon, 41,42 which helps stabilize climate; (iii) more friendly to biodiversity 43–45 ; and, critically, (iv) less leaky with respect to sediment and phosphorus loss 20,46,47 . Of course, all of these benefits come with an important tradeoff, milk cows on pasture yield approximately 40% less milk on a per cow basis than those fed in confinement on a mixed ration diet 40,48 . In addition, the lower productivity of pastures compared to grain crops mean that significantly more land than is currently used to feed confined livestock must be converted to perennial pasture to continue current production levels.…”