Your data on MRCVSonline
The nature of the services provided by Vision Media means that we might obtain certain information about you.
Please read our Data Protection and Privacy Policy for details.

In addition, (with your consent) some parts of our website may store a 'cookie' in your browser for the purposes of
functionality or performance monitoring.
Click here to manage your settings.
If you would like to forward this story on to a friend, simply fill in the form below and click send.

Your friend's email:
Your email:
Your name:
 
 
Send Cancel

UK pig farm carbon footprint shows significant decline
Animal feeed was found to be central to the environmental impact of pig farms.
Study reviews emission in England, Scotland and Wales over 20 years. 

A study by Queen's University Belfast has revealed a 40 per cent decline in the carbon footprint of British pig farms.

The study, published in the journal Agricultural Systems, reviewed data on the carbon footprint of English, Scottish and Welsh pig farms over the last 20 years. 

Animal feed was found to be central to the environmental impact of pig farms, accounting for between 75-80 per cent of carbon footprint.

It suggests that changes to feed ingredients could alter the carbon rating of pig farms and the industry as a whole. Specifically, researchers suggest replacing soya imported from South America with home-grown crops such as rapeseed and sunflower meal.

Soya has a high environmental footprint associated with deforestation. But researchers found the increasing trend of replacing soya with home-grown feed had a 'significant mitigating effect' on carbon emissions. 

The study also reveals that advances in animal nutrition had a beneficial effect on carbon emissions - particularly the increased availability of synthetic amino acids and enzymes, the price of which decreased over the study period. 

When added to domestic feedstuffs like rapeseed, these supplementary ingredients increased nutrient availability and improved feed balance. They reduced nutrient excretion in manure while boosting animal productivity by 30 per cent. 

Moreover, the study found that such supplements in animal feed helped lower phosphorus levels in run-off from pig manure by more than 20 per cent, reducing the contribution of pig systems to freshwater pollution. 

Study leader Professor Ilias Kyriazakis from Queen's Institute for Global Food Security said: “The reason this research is so significant is that it shows an area of livestock farming where carbon footprint has been reducing over the past 20 years, almost ‘under the radar’.

“We hear a lot these days about the need for farmers to reduce their carbon outputs for the sake of the environment, especially as it applies to beef and dairy cattle farming. There is much more attention focussed on ruminant food systems as they produce higher GHG emissions.

“But I believe there are important lessons to be learned from this study – not only for better environmental management as it relates to pig farming, but potentially for all livestock systems. Some of the improvements identified in this study could potentially be applied to other animal systems, which would ultimately help move our collective agriculture systems towards a carbon-neutral model.”

Become a member or log in to add this story to your CPD history

Pet Blood Bank announces twists to annual fundraiser

News Story 1
 Pet Blood Bank has revealed that its annual fundraiser, 'Around the Coast in 30 Days', will now include mini challenges.

It is the fourth year of the challenge, which asks people to walk, run, swim or cycle a part of a 11,232 mile goal.

However this year's fundraiser, starting 1 May, includes extra challenges throughout the month. Pet Blood Bank says these tasks will showcase its work.

The challenge can be completed individually, or as a team, with miles recorded on the participant's fundraising page.

Register here

Click here for more...
News Shorts
SCOPS updates anthelmintics guide

The Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group has published an updated version of its free guide to anthelmintics.

Know Your Anthelmintics, created to help farmers and livestock keepers, lists the available products for treating internal and external parasites in sheep and gives advice on how they should be administered. This includes guidance on drenching and injecting correctly and minimising the impact that anthelmintics have on the environment.

The new version contains information about products released in recent months and changes to older products.

Kevin Harrison, sheep farmer and SCOPS chair, said: "I can't count the times I've used the SCOPS Know Your Anthelmintics guide when making decisions about my flock, to remind myself which group a wormer belongs to or check other details."

The guide is available on the SCOPS website.