ARTICLE 62 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE May 2022 teric emissions (i.e., methane from the rumen) and feed use. Together, these two sources contribute more than 60% of all emissions on dairy operations. These sources relate to rumen health and an animal’s ability to best maximize the feed it is being fed. By ensuring the production of a healthy and productive cow, we are helping operations improve their production efficiency while also enabling energy to be utilized for milk production and regular body maintenance, rather than being wasted by fighting health challenges. This type of information is critical for identifying targeted solutions that will enhance our methane mitigation strategies. To successfully reduce a farm’s carbon footprint, we must look beyond one gas in one area and consider the balance of emissions across the entire farm. A lifecycle observation is one way of doing that, and it’s all about identifying opportunities to reduce waste and improve farm efficiency, which will translate to more money for the producer. TOOL TWO: OPTIGEN® Optigen is a feed ingredient backed by years of robust research data that works to support production efficiency and sustainability. Optigen, a concentrated source of non-protein nitrogen, releases nitrogen into the rumen in a slow-release form. This provides a sustained release of ammonia in the rumen in sync with fermented carbohydrate digestion, thus allowing for efficient microbial protein synthesis in the rumen. In order to gather clear evidence that shows how we can use feed strategies to reduce our carbon footprint, the FAO developed a standard guideline for the environmental performance of feed additives in the livestock supply chain. These standards recommend the use of data from meta-analyses and life cycle analyses. Meta-analyses make it possible to combine data from years of multiple studies to arrive at an evidence-based conclusion by using comprehensive statistical procedures. Life-cycle analyses allow us to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions along the entire supply chain or in the production cycle of a particular product. Combining these two approaches demonstrates how feeding technologies can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and/or better sustainability credentials.
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