Webinar on demand: Sustainable Dairy Farming

So, what can we do to improve herd performance and welfare and at the same time consider its place when it comes to climate change, emissions and a healthy planet. There are of course key ways to make sure that on-farm level sustainability issues are addressed while keeping important points like milk production, animal performance and welfare, in check.

This webinar looked at sustainability in dairy farming with feed efficiency, herd longevity and reproduction in mind.

Watch the webinar on demand: Sustainable Dairy Farming

Speakers

1. Dr Valentin Nenov DVM, MBA, global ruminant manager at Phileo by Lesaffre is responsible for the global ruminant strategy of the company, development of innovative solutions and building the technical communication. He manages product development and launches in close collaboration with R&D, marketing, and commercial teams.

Presented on: Probiotic yeast boosts feed efficiency for more sustainable dairy farming

Sustainable dairy farming is a comprehensive term that can be defined as producing milk in the most efficient way with respect to animal welfare and having minimal impact on the environment while maximising the farmer’s profit. There are many aspects of sustainable dairy farming that we need to focus on, one of which is feed efficiency. High feed efficiency is basically the ability of an animal to retain maximum energy and nutrients from the consumed feed and it is generally related to good welfare with no stress and good overall health.

Maximising feed efficiency improves milk production, farmer’s profit but also diminishes the negative impact of dairy farming on the environment. Supplementing probiotic yeast, Actisaf, to dairy cows proves to significantly increase feed effacing and fibre digestion increasing milk production and quality while reducing the carbon footprint.

• Importance of feed efficiency for more sustainable dairy farming in the context of rising grain prises.
• Ruminal health and fibre degradation is the key to better feed efficiency.
• Probiotic yeast may balance ruminal environment significantly improving NDF degradation and feed efficiency.
• Probiotic yeast helps reduce carbon footprint from dairy farming through optimizing efficacy and performance.

Watch the webinar on demand: Sustainable Dairy Farming

2. Frederik Gadeyne, product developer within the R&D ruminants team, joined Agrimprove in 2017 after finishing his PhD at Ghent University. There, he worked as a teaching assistant while researching the protection of polyunsaturated fatty acids against ruminal biohydrogenation. Since 2017, he works as a product developer within the R&D ruminants team doing research on several topics concerning the development of new concepts and products. His focus and passion is functional feed ingredients for ruminants.

Presented on: Longevity, the driver towards sustainable dairy farming

• Understanding the impact of culling decisions on sustainability
• Recognising the main problems to longevity in dairy farming
• Finding solutions to improve herd longevity

3. Albert de Vries, a professor at the Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida.

Presented on: Role of reproduction and cow replacement in sustainable dairy farming

• Reproduction efficiency and cow replacement rates play an important role in sustainable dairy farming as it relates to greenhouse gas emissions
• Quantifying the effects of differences in reproduction efficiency and cow replacement rates on greenhouse gas emissions.
• Suggestions for better decision-making related to reproduction and cow replacement

Watch the webinar on demand: Sustainable Dairy Farming