Abstract
This study was conducted to identify the differences of characteristics of nitrogen flow on the cattle fattening breeders in different types of feeding system. Targeted breeders were classified into fodder-product type and grazing type. In both types, the nitrogen flow during livestock farming was estimated based on the inputs and outputs of materials, and summarized with following three indicators: (1) Flow-Drive Indicator (FDI), indicator for the amplified nitrogen flow per unit of external commercial materials, (2) Artificial Resources Utilization Indicator (AUI), indicator for effects of the inputs of artificial resources on nitrogen flow, and (3) Sustainability Indicator (SI = FDI/AUI), indicator for sustainability of resource utilization. As the results of nitrogen flow analysis, higher average FDI value in the grazing type (2.09) than in the fodder-product type (1.90) showed that the nitrogen from external commercial materials contributed efficiently to increase the nitrogen flow in the grazing type. The average AUI value in the fodder-product type (24.27) was clearly higher than in the grazing types (1.90). It is suggested that fodder-product type was operated by higher dependency of the inputs of utilization of artificial resources. The value of SI was less than 0.2 in the fodder-product type, and it ranged from 1.00 to 1.36 in the grazing type, respectively. It was suggested that the nitrogen flow was completely different in both types of systems, and the grazing type well utilized natural process. Moreover, by comparing the AUI and SI values, it was found that the fodder-product type was operated depending on nitrogen inputs from commercial products. In contrast, the grazing type operated well utilization of nitrogen from natural resources with less input from commercial feed.
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The data was collected from eight cattle breeders who were introducing grazing operations with more than 50% of self-produced fodder as “grazing type”.
In the case of the breeders involved in fattening cattle, the amount of self-produced fodder self-production in case of breeders operating with more than 25 heads and less than 25 heads was less than 40% and more than 50% in the case of most of breeders, respectively (Kobayashi and Yuyama 2006). In this study, the 396 breeders operating with less than 25 heads were selected as “fodder-product type”.
For confirmation of feed requirement satisfaction, the estimated feed amounts supplied by farmers in the grazing type and fodder-product type were 2,456–3,169 (average, 2,800) kg DM head−1 year−1 and 2,041–6,550 (average, 2,474) kg DM head−1 year−1, respectively. Both types satisfactorily feed enough requirements on the standard requirements for bosses of the diet of Japanese Black cattle standardized according to the Japanese Feeding Standard. The estimated amount of self-produced fodder per head that was considered to be sufficient was 54–89% (average, 75%) in the case of the grazing type and 16–100% (average, 69%) in the case of the fodder-product type, respectively.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the researchers at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Agriculture and Forestry Center, Livestock Technology Division in Yamaguchi Prefecture for their valuable suggestions and cooperation during this study. We also sincerely appreciate the staff of the relevant local authorities as well as the farmers who cooperated and supported us by providing good comments during the field survey.
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Zaitsu, Y., Kobayashi, H. Development of a sustainable evaluation indicator for livestock farming system on the basis of nitrogen flow: a case study on the material flow in livestock farming along with fodder crop production and grazing on abandoned paddy fields. Paddy Water Environ 10, 7–15 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-011-0250-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-011-0250-x