Dairy cattle – Reduce fuel use

Reduce fuel use

System: Dairy cattle

Mainly applicable for: All farms. Automatic manure scraping applies to farms with slurry scraped areas.

Not applicable or effective for: Automatic feeding and manure scraping are not relevant for farms with animal outside all year round.

Description

Saving fossil fuel use for on-farm processes by installing energy-efficient techniques or reducing energy-demanding activities. Fuel can be saved in various on-farm processes, such as feeding of animals, field work and irrigation. In this factsheet three options are shown. More efficient tractor driving involves, for example, driving at less RPM, appropriate tire pressure, appropriate counterweight, etc. Regular maintenance and tuning is typically done by professional workshops and using mobile test benches. Besides this, more energy-efficient and properly sized machinery contribute to energy savings.

Mechanism of effect

Saving on fossil fuel use for on-farm processes means less carbon dioxide emissions are emitted due to less fossil fuel combustion. For example, research has shown more efficient driving can save 10-15% of fuel. Electrification saves CO2 by replacing direct fossil fuel combustion in vehicles or machinery with electricity, which is typically more energy efficient especially as the power grid decarbonizes. Solutions will be less effective when renewable energy (e.g. biofuel) is used in the reference situation.

Reference situation

No energy-efficient techniques.

Legend

● – Small effect (<5%)	o – No effect	o – no effect
●● – Medium effect (5-20%)	● – Unfavourable effect	? – unknown effect
●●● – Large effect (>20%)	● – ● – Variable effect (depending on farm characteristics or way/level of implementation)

Effect on total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (kg CO2-eq)

	per kg product		per farm (absolute)		Level of evidence
	Mean	(min-max)	Mean	(min-max)
More efficient tractor driving	●	●–●	●	●–●	High
Improve maintenance and tuning of tractors	●	●–●	●	●–●	High
Electrification of vehicles and machinery (e.g., automatic feeding and/or manure scraping)	●	●–●	●	●–●	High

Effect per emission source

	Source	Manure storage		Animals	Feed and forage production			Barn
	Gas	CH₄	N₂O	CH₄	CO₂	N₂O	LUC	CO₂
More efficient tractor driving					●
Improve maintenance and tuning of tractors					●
Electrification of vehicles and machinery (e.g., automatic feeding and/or manure scraping)								●

*risk of an adverse effect (see ’cause of variable or unfavourable effect’)

Explanation of variable effect

More efficient tractor driving

The effect on CO2 emission reduction depends on the fuel use efficiency in the reference situation. Furthermore, the effectiveness of efficient driving is highest when the tractor and tools are well maintained and tuned, and technology is used to optimize operations under favorable field conditions.

Improve maintenance and tuning of tractors

The effect on CO2 emission reduction depends on the extent of improvement in fuel use efficiency, and fuel use efficiency in the reference situation.

Electrification of vehicles and machinery

In case electricity is purchased from the grid, the effect depends on the carbon content of the national electricity grid mix. Vehicles and machinery should be replaced at the end of their life time to avoid high embedded CO2 emissions production of vehicles and macherinery. Furthermore, effectiveness depends on a combination of technology, system maintenance, feed formulation, and farmer training. A well-designed feeding system with real-time data integration and proper cow monitoring will lead to more efficient feeding and lower emissions.