Life-Dairyclim, European project aiming to mitigate methane emissions and carbon footprint of dairy cows

How can dairy farming contribute to reduce the climate change without compromising food security and farm economy? This is the question the project Life-Dairyclim wants to answer. The project gathers partners from research groups, association of advisory services to farmers and feed industry in collaboration with private farmers in three countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark). It focuses on production of feed, including utilisation of grassland and feeding of dairy cows in order to implement strategies that can contribute to a sustainable development of the dairy sector.
Feeding experiments to decrease methane from dairy cows will be assessed at the University of Liège (Belgium) with cows milked by an automatic milking system. Methane production will be analysed individually by a device (Guardian®) inserted in the feeding bin as well as by mid infrared spectrum analysis of milk. The effect of concentrate composition on methane production during grazing in combination with optimization of grazing practices will be studied in collaboration with the industrial partner, Dumoulin (Belgium). The carbon footprint of produced milk will be determined using lifecycle assessment methods based on input from the experiments in combination with effect of feed production on especially carbon sequestration from different type of crop and utilization by Aarhus University (Denmark) and Convis, association of advisory services to farmers (Luxembourg). An important part of the project is dissemination based on pilot farms in all three countries documenting the impact of mitigation strategies adopted during the project