A large portion of dairy rations fed to cattle on Irish farms is made using ingredients from outside of Ireland and the EU.
Because of this, the emissions associated with these rations are quite high, and these contribute towards overall farm emissions.
A question on this writer’s mind is: Could we look at using more Irish-based ingredients to not only reduce emissions, but also boost the tillage sector?
Dairy rations
Shinagh Estate recently host an open day on its 250-cow demonstration farm outside Bandon in Co. Cork.
The farm is focused on becoming the first climate-neutral dairy farm, with a wide range of measures being used to achieved this target.
One of the measures used on the farm is the feeding of a concentrates made from Irish sources.
The ration fed to cows on the Shinagh demonstration farm is made from Irish oats (33%), Irish beans (33%) and Irish barley (34%).
PhD researcher at University College Dublin (UCD) Luis Alejandro Vergara stated that compared to a more conventional dairy ration, the Shinagh ration is 47% more carbon efficient.
Two different numbers
Although moving to this ration would have a positive impact on dairy sector emissions, it is not currently possible due to low availability of these ingredients in Ireland.
It is likely that the Irish tillage sector would not be able to produce enough of these ingredients for the national herd.
Instead, at the event it was suggested that we look to try use more sustainably scoured ingredients in our rations.
Speaking at the event, Jonathan Herron, a researcher from Teagasc Moorepark said: “Would we be able to sustain our animals from our own tillage sector? Probably not.
“So it is important that the ingredients are sustainably sourced, soya from the US versus soya from South America is two different numbers.”
Ultimately, feeding Irish-sourced ingredients in rations to cows is likely not achievable on a large scale.
But, we can choose ingredients that have a lower carbon footprint – which ultimately reduces the emissions from Irish dairy farms.
This, along with other measures such as protected urea and low emission slurry spreading (LESS), will go a long way to meeting the sector’s targets.