Strategies to reduce reliance on chemical nitrogen fertiliser on cattle farms
Summary
- The source of beef calves coming into the beef sector has changed substantially in the past decade with a sharp increase in dairy-beef coinciding with a reduction in suckler cows.
- The key principles underpinning profitable farm systems are largely the
- same for suckler and dairy-beef systems – producing high levels of beefoutput from a predominantly grazed grass diet while maximising the contribution to ecosystems services.
- Recent research has found that Monitor and Research farms had 4.9 and 2.2 times greater profitability, respectively, when compared to National average profitability.
- The environmental impact of beef systems encompasses greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and water quality.
- A recent online survey of beef farmers highlighted the prevalence of parttime farming and the desire for greater labour efficiency to improve worklife balance
Agriculture has a requirement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030, relative to 2018. A 25% reduction is a very demanding target. The Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) developed by Teagasc sets out a menu of actions that farmers can take to reduce emissions on their farms. Most of the actions in the MACC are ‘win-wins’ i.e. they are good for the environment and good for farmers’ pockets. These include, reducing our reliance on chemical nitrogen (N) fertiliser, making better use of slurry, reducing finishing age at finishing for beef cattle, increased grazing days at pasture, better breeding, including using the Replacement and Terminal indices, as well as use of the commercial beef value (CBV) when buying calves, reduced age at first-calving, and improved animal health.
The Signpost Programme, led by Teagasc, is tasked with supporting and enabling farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There are 37 Signpost beef demonstration farms (Dairy Beef500 and the Future Beef Programmes) in the country and these farmers are the earlyadopters of the key technologies to reduce emissions. The Signpost Advisory Programme is a free programme designed to support all farmers, Teagasc clients and non-clients. All farmers are encouraged to get to know their local Signpost farmer and sign up for the Signpost Advisory Programme to develop a plan for their own farm to help meet the targets.