Abstract

Locally produced feed is often regarded as an important factor for sustainable animal production. The potential advantages relate to low energy use due to short transports, nutrient cycling from on-farm feed production, avoidance of imported feedstuffs with a poor environmental record, etc. The present study aimed to analyze the use of transport energy in relation to total energy for a set of feed rations for Swedish dairy cows, in order to gain knowledge on the importance of the short transport argument. The methodology used was attributional lifecycle assessment, with economic allocation to assess by-products. The context of the case-study was a 100 head farm, with an average yearly milk production of 9000 kg ECM per cow, situated in the county of Västra Götaland (the county with highest numbers of dairy cows in Sweden). Five different feed rations were compared (see Table 1); alternatives 2, 3 and 5 had a higher content of locally produced feedstuffs than the normal feed, when ‘locally’ was interpreted as Swedish. Each feed ingredient was tracked from production of input materials up to and including transport from fodder plant to farm. The transport results include transport of raw material crops and feed products, whereas the total energy results also include other parts of the lifecycle, such as mineral fertilizer production and field operations. Roughage feed was produced on-farm and thus not included in the transport results. The resulting transport energy use for a yearly feed ration varied between 10 and 28 % of the total primary energy use; the typical normal feed (Alt. 1) scored 15%. All three locally produced feed rations lowered their total energy use, although to different extents (97%, 83% and 74% of the base case [Alt. 1], for alternatives 2, 3 and 5 respectively). Alternative 3 (High quality silage) had the lowest transport energy use, whereas alternative 5 (Clover, Rapeseed and Peas) had the lowest total energy use, despite its relatively high transport energy use. A conclusion of the study was that transport energy can influence the total energy results, but only to a limited extent. Other phases of the feed production life cycle, such as mineral fertilizer use per kg dry weight feed, appear to be more important to reduce the total energy use. This study was part of a larger study titled Locally Produced Feed to Swedish Dairy Cows - Environmental Impact from Feed Production and Animals, where also other parts of the feed production as well as the animal metabolism of the feed were examined

Keywords

proceedings LCAfood

Published in

Title: LCAfood2010 VII International conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the agri-food sector, Vol2
ISBN: 978-88-88793-29-0
Publisher: Universita degli Studi di Bari ALDO MORO

Conference

LCAfood2010 - Life Cycle Assessment in the agri-food sector

SLU Authors

• Strid, Ingrid

  • Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use


Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/30874