SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report
Sections
Status: Approved
Basic Information
- Project No. and Title: NE1544 : Dairy Production systems: C,N, and P management for production, profitability and the environment.
- Period Covered: 10/27/2017 to 06/21/2019
- Date of Report: 09/16/2019
- Annual Meeting Dates: 06/22/2019 to 06/23/2019
Participants
Joe Harrison, AL Rotz, Rhonda Miller, and Breno Fragomeni.
Joe Harrison served as chair and Rhonda Miller served as recording secretary
Administrative update provided by Steve Smith - IDEAS program may be a good fit for our committee.
- Several foundational programs are preparing for the upcoming NIFA move by having the
same RFA for two years. RFA will list two deadlines. Need to be careful not to pull down the
application package until after Jan 1, 2020 – or it may be too early and the wrong program
codes will be on the files internally.
- Day after announcement on the NIFA move, every employee received a directive relocation
letter. Out of 300 employees, all but 20 will be relocated. 20 employees may stay in
national region (director, and top administrative staff). Six NPLs will be allowed to stay, but
will not be running programs anymore.
Project updates provided in person by Harrison, Miller, Roz, and Fragomeni.
Fragomeni - Examining the Genotype X Environment Interaction in a rank comparison of bulls from California and New England. Pilot Study: Gene expression in heat stressed cows
Single cell RNA seq in milk samples
- Does it change when cows are heat stressed?
- Does it change with breed?
Rotz - USDA-NIFA funded project – SUSTAINABLE DAIRY – CAP grant funded out of Wisconsin.
15+ universities and other institutions, 35+ researchers.
5 major objectives
- Measurement
- Modeling
- Life cycle assessment
- Extension/outreach
- Education
Comprehensive assessment looks at New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
Simulate with and without BMPs
- BMPs benefit farm under current environment, and as predicted with climate change
- Reactive N footprint – some increases in N loss with BMPs
- Main drivers are increased precipitation and intensity
- Harder to prevent P loss with climate change
- Without mitigation measures, the environmental impact of dairy systems will increase
- Adoption of farm-specific BMPs will help mitigate effect
Another project – Sustainability of US Beef was initiated by the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association. Quantifying environmental impacts of beef cows by region – southwest, northwest,
north plains, south plains, midwest, northeast, southeast
GHG emissions from beef cattle relatively low contributor to long term global warming
- Beef account for 3.3% of US GHG emissions (CO2 equivalent)
- Beef account for 15% of annual atmospheric emissions for NH3, N2O and NOX in the US.
Includes dairy cull animals coming through beef cycle.
- Reactive N losses are a concern
- Water consumption is the major concern – particularly western regions
Harrison - A mobile struvite unit has been taken to 30 dairies to see how manure from different farms affects the efficiency of capture. It is somewhat expensive to move two 5,000 gallon tanks (~$800), have gone to trucking manure from dairies close by.
Pure Struvite NPK + Mg (6-29-0 + 10)
- Slow release rate for P
- Can be placed directly by seed with no burning
- Water solubility good, but not prone to leaching
- Struvite crystallization removes excess P from livestock wastewater
- Fluidized bed with cone shape
- Lower pH with sulfuric acid (oxalic acid doesn’t seem to work as well)
- Boost pH with ammonia or caustic soda -- ammonia water seems to work better
- Mg Boost with Magnesium chloride or MgO plus carbon dioxide
- With low Calcium manure such as swine, pH reduction is not necessary
- With raw manure capture 50% of P; anaerobically digested manure capture 80-90% of P
- If the NH3 concentration is too low, it reduces P capture
- Want Fe as low as possible, as each mg Fe/L binds 0.5 mg/L OrthoPhosphate
- With raw manure, use of oxalic acid not beneficial unless can separate out calcium-oxalate
- Costs $0.35-$0.75/day/cow. Struvite production not going to make you money, but is a
technology that can help one remove P from manure and use it in a beneficial manner
Miller - Nitrogen Cycling in Response to Grazing of Grass-Legume Mixtures versus Monocultures:
- Part of a larger study examining rates of gain, forage productivity, and reproductive rates
- Grass monocultures require use of nitrogen fertilizers which are expensive and tend to result
in higher nitrogen leaching
- Grass-legume mixtures can reduce or eliminate the need for nitrogen fertilizer
- Birdsfoot trefoil was used in the grass-legume mixtures. Birdsfoot trefoil contains tannins,
which have the potential to improve rates of gain and shift nitrogen from the urine to the
feces
- Grasses examined included: tall fescue, meadow brome, orchardgrass, and a high
carbohydrate perennial rye
- Rate of gain always higher on grass-legume paddocks
- Total N in feces and urea in urine higher under grass-legume mixtures
- Nitrate in leachate lower under grass-legume mixtures than grass monocultures
Next meeting location: Breno will host in Connecticut. Dates discussed. Breno will send out an
email requesting a date.
Accomplishments
Joe Harrison served as chair and Rhonda Miller served as recording secretary
Administrative update provided by Steve Smith - IDEAS program may be a good fit for our committee.
- Several foundational programs are preparing for the upcoming NIFA move by having the
same RFA for two years. RFA will list two deadlines. Need to be careful not to pull down the
application package until after Jan 1, 2020 – or it may be too early and the wrong program
codes will be on the files internally.
- Day after announcement on the NIFA move, every employee received a directive relocation
letter. Out of 300 employees, all but 20 will be relocated. 20 employees may stay in
national region (director, and top administrative staff). Six NPLs will be allowed to stay, but
will not be running programs anymore.
Project updates provided in person by Harrison, Miller, Roz, and Fragomeni.
Fragomeni - Examining the Genotype X Environment Interaction in a rank comparison of bulls from California and New England. Pilot Study: Gene expression in heat stressed cows
Single cell RNA seq in milk samples
- Does it change when cows are heat stressed?
- Does it change with breed?
Rotz - USDA-NIFA funded project – SUSTAINABLE DAIRY – CAP grant funded out of Wisconsin.
15+ universities and other institutions, 35+ researchers.
5 major objectives
- Measurement
- Modeling
- Life cycle assessment
- Extension/outreach
- Education
Comprehensive assessment looks at New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
Simulate with and without BMPs
- BMPs benefit farm under current environment, and as predicted with climate change
- Reactive N footprint – some increases in N loss with BMPs
- Main drivers are increased precipitation and intensity
- Harder to prevent P loss with climate change
- Without mitigation measures, the environmental impact of dairy systems will increase
- Adoption of farm-specific BMPs will help mitigate effect
Another project – Sustainability of US Beef was initiated by the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association. Quantifying environmental impacts of beef cows by region – southwest, northwest,
north plains, south plains, midwest, northeast, southeast
GHG emissions from beef cattle relatively low contributor to long term global warming
- Beef account for 3.3% of US GHG emissions (CO2 equivalent)
- Beef account for 15% of annual atmospheric emissions for NH3, N2O and NOX in the US.
Includes dairy cull animals coming through beef cycle.
- Reactive N losses are a concern
- Water consumption is the major concern – particularly western regions
Harrison - A mobile struvite unit has been taken to 30 dairies to see how manure from different farms affects the efficiency of capture. It is somewhat expensive to move two 5,000 gallon tanks (~$800), have gone to trucking manure from dairies close by.
Pure Struvite NPK + Mg (6-29-0 + 10)
- Slow release rate for P
- Can be placed directly by seed with no burning
- Water solubility good, but not prone to leaching
- Struvite crystallization removes excess P from livestock wastewater
- Fluidized bed with cone shape
- Lower pH with sulfuric acid (oxalic acid doesn’t seem to work as well)
- Boost pH with ammonia or caustic soda -- ammonia water seems to work better
- Mg Boost with Magnesium chloride or MgO plus carbon dioxide
- With low Calcium manure such as swine, pH reduction is not necessary
- With raw manure capture 50% of P; anaerobically digested manure capture 80-90% of P
- If the NH3 concentration is too low, it reduces P capture
- Want Fe as low as possible, as each mg Fe/L binds 0.5 mg/L OrthoPhosphate
- With raw manure, use of oxalic acid not beneficial unless can separate out calcium-oxalate
- Costs $0.35-$0.75/day/cow. Struvite production not going to make you money, but is a
technology that can help one remove P from manure and use it in a beneficial manner
Miller - Nitrogen Cycling in Response to Grazing of Grass-Legume Mixtures versus Monocultures:
- Part of a larger study examining rates of gain, forage productivity, and reproductive rates
- Grass monocultures require use of nitrogen fertilizers which are expensive and tend to result
in higher nitrogen leaching
- Grass-legume mixtures can reduce or eliminate the need for nitrogen fertilizer
- Birdsfoot trefoil was used in the grass-legume mixtures. Birdsfoot trefoil contains tannins,
which have the potential to improve rates of gain and shift nitrogen from the urine to the
feces
- Grasses examined included: tall fescue, meadow brome, orchardgrass, and a high
carbohydrate perennial rye
- Rate of gain always higher on grass-legume paddocks
- Total N in feces and urea in urine higher under grass-legume mixtures
- Nitrate in leachate lower under grass-legume mixtures than grass monocultures
Next meeting location: Breno will host in Connecticut. Dates discussed. Breno will send out an
email requesting a date.
Impacts
- Economically, grazing has many benefits. Grazing reduces feed and machinery costs, and reduces manure handling and storage facility requirements. However, grazing also increases some environmental concerns. Grazing animals accelerate nutrient cycling and have the potential to increase nitrate leaching.
- However, grazing also increases some environmental concerns. Grazing animals accelerate nutrient cycling and have the potential to increase nitrate leaching.
- Approximately 85% of the nitrogen (N) ingested by animals is returned to the pasture as urine and feces; yet, only 10% of the total paddock receives urine and feces deposits (White et al., 2001).
- Soils where cattle have urinated may contain the equivalent of up to 1000 kg N/ha applied as a single application, which is greatly in excess of the sward’s immediate requirement
- Tannins have the potential to improve N utilization in the animal, and shift excreted nitrogen from the urine to the feces, thereby reducing some of the environmental impacts of grazing systems
- - Costs $0.35-$0.75/day/cow. Struvite production not going to make you money, but is a technology that can help one remove P from manure and use it in a beneficial manner
- Pennsylvania dairy farms were determined to emit 4,641 ± 414 Gg CO2e of GHG with an intensity of 1.01 ± 0.09 kg CO2e/kg of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM) produced.