Bovine belching... and climate change?

According to The New York Times, your cows are part of one of the most serious problems the United Nations is facing today. With milk and beef production expected to double in the next 30 years, cows might end up adding more methane to the atmosphere than cars and trucks combined. Just one cow, in one year, can produce 200 to 400 pounds of methane, a potent greenhouse gas with extremely high global warming potential. The majority of a cow’s methane excretion is through belching.

While Dairy Management, Inc., reports that the dairy industry accounts for only 2 percent of the United States emissions of heat-trapping gas, it’s the threat of consumer viewpoint that is driving our industry to reduce its emissions. Dairy Management’s Erin Fitzgerald told The New York Times that the dairy industry wants to avoid consumers equating dairies with coal plants. Thus, the ‘Cow of the Future’ program started in an effort to reduce dairy industry emissions 25 percent by 2020.

Stonyfield Farm, the popular yogurt manufacturer, has already implemented a program at the Vermont farms which provide the company with organic milk. Since January, 15 farms throughout Vermont have adjusted their ration from corn and soy-based grains to plants such as alfalfa and flaxseed. The plant feeds are high in Omega-3 fatty acids which help the digestive tract operate smoothly, rather than corn and soy which have a different fatty acid structure.

Farms that have participated in the program have seen healthier, more robust animals with better functioning digestive tracts and a significant reduction in methane. One of the farmers in the program reduced methane emission by over 18 percent while still maintaining milk production.

The idea of using plant feeds was provided by Groupe Danone, the French manufacturers of Dannon yogurt and Evian bottled water, who are invested in Stonyfield Farm. France has seen even better results, reducing emissions by nearly 30 percent on both organic and large industrial farms.

The cost of being Wisconsin's largest dairy farm

Controversy aside, Rosendale Dairy is a sight to behold. With over 4,000 cows already under one roof, construction has begun on Phase II of the farm plan which would add another 4,000 cows and make Rosendale the single largest dairy operation in Wisconsin. An Elanco program held at the farm allowed us to get an inside look at the new dairy which has been under scrutiny of environmental activists over the last year.

After facing much opposition and being held to the government’s highest design standards, the trio of owners Jim Ostrom, John Vosters, and Todd Willer went above and beyond the law to build a sustainable, low-carbon footprint, large-scale farm. And large it is. The cross-ventilated barn, part of Phase I, is seemingly endless with row after row of cattle.

Maybe the most interesting part of the $70 million farm investment is the cutting-edge technology. An 80-cow DeLaval rotary milking parlor gives each cow a nonstop, seven-minute ride around the huge parlor room three times a day. Ostrom says by the end of the summer they will be using a robotic teat dipper for postdipping to minimize waste and reduce labor.

Other farm features include a drive-in commodity shed where two mixers are being filled at any given time and an on-site manure-processing facility where dried manure solids are produced and sold to local farmers.

Rosendale is expected to provide nearly 70 permanent local jobs and contribute over $40 million in purchases per year from local contractors and vendors. Omro Dairy, Omro, Wis., and Tidy View Dairy, Kaukauna, Wis., are also owned by the partnership.

Reduce your environmental hoofprint

You hear about it all the time in the news or on television, and your kids probably learn about it in school. The environment. Believe it or not, even your cows are leaving behind an environmental hoofprint.

A recent study done by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), a USDA research agency, examined the environmental impact of solid dairy manure, liquid dairy manure, and commercial fertilizer on phosphorus contamination in watersheds. Results showed that solid dairy manure was the least harmful in excreting phosphorus followed by commercial fertilizer and, finally, liquid manure.

Twenty-four soil columns were evaluated after being spread with either solid or liquid manure or monoammonium phosphate (MAP), a commercial fertilizer. These columns were irrigated 13 times over the nine-week test period and the leachate, liquid drained out of the soil, was collected and analyzed for concentrations of phosphorus, carbon, calcium, iron, and manganese.

ARS scientists Tarkalson and Leytem found that phosphorus in commercial fertilizer was more mobile than phosphorus in the solid manure. They also found that phosphorus moved through soil in much larger quantities with liquid manure versus the other two fertilizers.

What does this mean for farmers?

If you’re concerned about watersheds in your area, you can take steps to reduce your environmental impact. A few solutions include spreading your manure across a larger area of land, avoid spreading manure near waterways (however small), trying not to spread on the same piece of land repeatedly, and investigating new options in manure management.