title: Feed production on farms without animals is not environmentally sustainable
creator: Steinshamn, Håvard
creator: Bleken, Marina A
creator: Thuen, Erling
subject:  Farming Systems
subject:  Dairy cattle
subject: Farm nutrient management
subject:  Production systems
description: Use of high energy feed supplementation can improve the protein retention by the cattle, and it has been suggested as a way to increase the nitrogen (N) effi-ciency of dairy production. However, in praxis feed supplementation is also used to increase the intensity of animal production above the level that can be supported by the farm's local plant production.  A collection of published surveys showed that dairy farms that buy feed are considerably lees N efficient than farms that supply the entire animal ration from their own plant production. The total N emission to the environment per litre milk doubled when 30% of the total feed ration was produced outside the dairy farm. This was so for organic as well as conventional farms. Similar results can be expected for phosphorous and other nutrients. In order to ensure a sustainable and environmentally friendly organic production, imports of feed produced far away from the dairy farm should be strictly limited. We suggest a ceiling of 5 - 10% of total feed ration.
date: 2006
type: Conference paper, poster, etc. 
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: source
identifier: http://orgprints.org/7500/1/steinshamn_bleken_thuen_N_util.doc
format: application/pdf
identifier: http://orgprints.org/7500/2/7500_Steinshamn.pdf
identifier: Steinshamn, Håvard; Bleken, Marina A and Thuen, Erling (2006) Feed production on farms without animals is not environmentally sustainable. Joint Organic Congress, Odense, Denmark, May 30-31, 2006.
relation: http://orgprints.org/7500/