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SID 4 Annual/Interim Project Report for Period 04/11-03/12     

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Project details

1. Defra Project code WQ 0125

2. Project titleIdentification and mitigation of the environmental impacts of out-wintering beef and dairy cattle on sacrifice areas.

3. Defra Project Manager Dr Daniel McGonigle

4. Name and address of contractor

     SACWest Mains RoadEdinburgh     Postcode EH9 3JG

5. Contractor’s Project Manager Dr Andrew Barnes

6. Project: start date................. 1st February 2009

end date.................. 30th January 2014

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Scientific objectives

7. Please list the scientific objectives as set out in the contract. If necessary these can be expressed in an abbreviated form. Indicate where amendments have been agreed with the Defra Project Manager, giving the date of amendment.

The aim of this research is to investigate the impacts of out-wintering cattle on grass sacrifice fields. This broadly consists of three main objectives, namely:-

a) to identify parameters that quantify the impacts of out-wintering cattle in social, economic and environmental terms;

b) to establish the sensitivities of impacts from out-wintering, which emerge from various bio-physical and management strategies; and

c) to evaluate the barriers and potential for adoption of strategies to mitigate against these negative impacts.

Summary of Progress8. Please summarise, in layperson’s terms, scientific progress since the last report/start of the project and

how this relates to the objectives. Please provide information on actual results where possible rather than merely a description of activities.

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In order to achieve the objectives, a multi-disciplinary approach is being used, with each aspect of the project being conducted four discrete phases, as outlined below:

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Phase 1 has been completed as a separate deliverable. Phase 2 is the monitoring stage and this has been completed and reported in both the first and second year annual report. Data from these two years are being analysed. The modelling approach within Phase 3 has been outlined in a separate deliverable (Milestone 11). The purpose of this report is to outline work conducted in the period 2011-12 and outline the research approach for the oncoming year. This work has been in terms of modelling and farmer engagement.

1.0. Farmer WorkshopsThree workshops were conducted over the period November 2011 to February 2012. The purpose of the workshops was to gather information and opinions on outwintering from farmers and also to provide farmers with information on outwintering practices. Farmers were recruited through IBERS Grassland Development Extension Team and in discussion with EBLEX and HCC.

Workshops were chosen for geographical spread and mixture over grazing livestock enterprises. These were held in the following areas:

Berriew, Powys (24th November 2011) Kingston Maurward, Dorset (12th January 2012) Stocksfield, Northumberland (8th February 2012)

A total of around 90 farmers attended the workshops. This was the maximum manageable capacity as we found a high level of interest and response from the farming community to the workshops. The farmers were both those conducting outwintering and those which had not conducted outwintering but were considering to outwinter.

The workshops had invited speakers which ranged from farmers who had conducted outwintering practices and also members of various groups with an interest in promoting best management outwintering practices, such as the Environment Agency, HCC and Cheviot Futures. Within small breakout groups farmers were asked to identify some of the main problems and benefits with outwintering as well as identifying the main risks and best practice management measures. A questionnaire was also conducted at the time on outwintering practices and is currently being analysed along with a qualitative analysis of the workshop discussions to find consistent themes across the three workshops.

2.0. Environmental Modelling

Outline of work packageLosses of nitrogen (as nitrous oxide emissions and leached nitrate) and phosphorus from six farms out-wintering cattle across Britain are being modelled with process-based computer models. Using 25 x 25 km resolution gridded observation weather data the effects of regional variation in soil type and prevailing weather conditions on nitrous oxide emissions are modelled using UK-DNDC. The models COUP and MACRO have been implemented to model nitrogen leaching and phosphorus transport, respectively, for the two best-characterised farms (SAC and IBERS) using local weather data.

Model selectionCOUP (Coupled heat and mass transfer) and UK-DNDC (UK-tailored DeNitrification-DeComposition) models are carbon and nitrogen-focussed soil-plant-atmosphere biogeochemistry models. DNDC has been used to simulate both N2O emissions and N leaching. The N leaching component of DNDC has recently been validated for a Scottish soil by SAC. COUP has been developed for drained European soils it was therefore used to simulate nitrogen leaching. MACRO specifically simulates water flow and reactive solute transport in macroporous soil with dual permeability (ie. perched layers) and was consequently used to model phosphorus transport in poached areas.

Progress to dateIn preparation for modelling nitrous oxide emissions for all six farms, the input parameters and

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data requirements for both UK-DNDC and COUP have been harmonized using the Bush farm as a benchmark. The two models differ with respect to their underlying assumptions of animal size and their “handling” of manure inputs. In UK-DNDC manure inputs are calculated by sub-routines within the model based on a user-specified stocking density, which also accounts for N volatilisation. Whereas in COUP the animal excretions have been simulated applying a user-specified daily applications of solid manure and urine. The values of organic N content that have been adapted are based on the RB209 estimates as they account for the volatilisation losses.

The estimated organic N from UK-DNDC differs from the RB209 values, therefore an adjusted stocking density have been used. This approach does not have a negative feedback effect on grazing pressure because supplementary feed is user-specified per unit livestock.

Work has progressed on modelling contamination of water in tile drainage by ammonium and phosphorus, using the MACRO model to simulate different areas of the field. It has been assumed that the cows spend much of their time and deposit most of their urine and faeces in the small area around where feed is distributed, and in this area the soil is totally compacted with no surface infiltration so contaminated rainwater leaves by surface runoff alone at a rate similar to the hourly rainfall. However, most contaminant transfer to tile drains will occur by infiltration and saturated macropore flow in the immediate surrounding area. The size of this surrounding area is either varied in relation to the runoff from the compacted area to maintain a saturated infiltration rate of around 2.0 mm/h, or set to zero in hours with no such runoff. Parameter values in MACRO simulations are based on a number of previous studies in which the model was calibrated and tested against field data for ammonium and colloidal phosphorus in tile drainage water following slurry spreading or during grazing. Simulated results show weighted mean contaminant concentrations in tiledrain flows from the whole field which are considerably higher than from a parallel simulation assuming uniform distribution of cows in the field and no compacted area. Model simulations have been completed for both contaminants for one winter at the Scottish (Bush) site, and will soon be completed for the first winter at the Welsh (Trawscoed) site and later for the second winter at both sites.

3.0. Economic ModellingThe economic modelling approach has been outlined in a separate deliverable related to modelling (milestone 11). This has developed a dynamic programming model for the biological development of cows and calves. To extend this further a literature review focused on the effects of cattle out-wintering/grazing on the environment, nutrient exchange, sediment loss, soil degradation and animal welfare. Among the total of 17 relevant papers that were selected, a few investigated and reported both ‘environmental effects’ and ‘out-wintering beef cattle’. A number of the selected papers investigated grazing cattle effects. In most cases these were limited to grazing periods and not all year round. Additionally the majority of the reviewed papers were focused on crop rotations or grazing rotations rather than single year/season effects. Similarly many of the reviewed papers were concentrated on the use of livestock manure rather than the presence of livestock on the land. We categorised the studied variables found in the literature in two main categories of independent (to out-wintering management) and dependent variables. It was noted that not all variables identified were fully ‘independent’ or ‘dependent’. For example ‘Soil compaction’ is independent to ‘run off’ but is dependent on ‘stocking density’. Therefore it can be considered as an independent and a dependent variable.

This dataset will be used in the next coming months to inform the DP model with regard to environmental effects of out-wintering cattle on sacrifice fields. As mentioned in the separate deliverable on modelling, now that we have our DP modelling running and data for it based on statistical analysis of 5 years of farm data, as well as an insight from the literature on environmental effects of out-wintering, we can adapt the model to specific scenarios most relevant to this project. These will include:

Estimating the economic performance of out-wintering systems under alternative bio-economic assumptions and management options and relating these to the range of uses of sacrifice fields in commercial practice. This will allow us to estimate the environmental impact of sacrifice fields under alternative scenarios. We anticipate that management and performance of out-wintering suckler cow systems will change with market conditions (as shown above) and with individual

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farm circumstances. It is therefore important to assess the impact of this change on the environmental implications of using sacrifice fields.

Identify the synergies and trade-offs between economics, animal welfare and environmental goals of out-wintering systems by using the results of environmental modelling outcomes of the current project and data from a survey of reproductive management in 66 spring calving commercial Scottish suckler herds carried out and reported by SAC.

4.0. Spatial Modelling of Mitigation Methods

The spatial modelling approach is a means to develop a decision making tool based on ‘agent-based’ modelling. This is a means of collating a set of simple rules related to cow grazing and nutrient transport through a field or wider catchment area. The advantage of this approach is to provide a visual indicator of the impact of a series of alternative mitigation strategies at the field level. The environmental, economic and animal welfare data collection and modelling from the research project will help to inform these rules. At present the impact of cow grazing an open field is modelled with rules based on foraging, herding and laying down. This is linked to weather based variables as well as grass growth models and poaching impacts. Figure 1 shows the current set up and movement of cows after a single run over the four-month period over outwintering.

Figure 1. Output from Agent Based Model of Grazing Cows

The output variables include weather variables, cow activity (related to weight and laying down), as well as soil quality factors (degree of poaching, evidenced by red areas) and environmental variables (currently NOx and Water Quality).

The next stage of this approach is to integrate the main mitigation methods identified from the workshops within the modelling framework. These include movement of feeders, strip grazing approaches etc.

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Amendments to project9. Are the current scientific objectives appropriate for the remainder of the project?..................YES NO

If NO, explain the reasons for any change giving the financial, staff and time implications.Contractors cannot alter scientific objectives without the agreement of the Defra Project Manager.

Progress in relation to targets10. (a) List the agreed milestones for the year/period under report as set out in the contract or any agreed

contract variation.It is the responsibility of the contractor to check fully that all milestones have been met and to provide a detailed explanation when they have not been achieved.

MilestoneTarget date

Milestones met

Number Title In full On time

1 Interim report on years 1 and 2 environmental modelling

01/04/2011 Yes Yes

2 Interim report on modelling progress 01/08/2011 Yes Yes

3 Organise stakeholder workshops 01/10/2011 Yes Yes

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(b) Do the remaining milestones look realistic?....................................................................YES NO If you have answered NO, please provide an explanation..

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Publications and other outputs11. (a) Please give details of any outputs, e.g. published papers/presentations, meetings attended during this

reporting period.

Output Papers:Barnes, A.P., Rees, R.M., Morgan, C., Vosough Ahmadi, B., Stott, A., Marley, C.L.., Topp, C.F.E., Hyslop, J.J. A framework for understanding the impacts of outwintering on grassland farming systems (In prep)

Vosough Ahmadi, B., Nath, M., Hyslop, J., Morgan, C.A., Stott, A.W. Analysing trade-offs between animal welfare and farm economics in Scottish suckler herds using dynamic programming (In prep).

Conferences:The Economic Modelling (DP) and some results were presented at Animal Welfare Meeting of the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) for farmers and industry audience. This event was held on 28th February 2012, in St Boswells.

(b) Have opportunities for exploiting Intellectual Property arising out of this work been identified?............................................................YES NO If YES, please give details.

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(c) Has any other action been taken to initiate Knowledge Transfer?..................................YES NO If YES, please give details.

The farmer workshops provided a useful vehicle for framing some of the questions and promoting this research within farmers and related interest groups. This work has also generated articles in the local press and part of a blog on grazing issues.

Details of this on-going research programme has been fed into the information provided to farmers via the technology transfer team ‘Grassland Development Centre’ based at IBERS Aberystwyth. The field site at IBERS has been demonstrated to visiting groups and undergraduate students. IBERS hosts visits of up to 20 groups of farmers each year, including grassland societies and abattoir producer groups.

A webpage has begun to be populated on the SAC website: http://www.sac.ac.uk/research/projects/landeconomy/featured/outwintering/. Ongoing work has fed into SACs wider remit for transferring information related to out-wintering strategies.

Future work12. Please comment briefly on any new scientific opportunities which may arise from the project.

The potential for new scientific opportunities arising from this research programme are numerous as we endeavour to integrate environmental protection into agricultural policy. The research findings from this programme are needed to assist with the development and implementation of policy relating to the environmental impact of out-wintering cattle on pasture and provide much needed comparative data to the practice of housing cattle during winter. Further studies are now needed to build on the findings from this programme in order to implement and monitor other strategies that UK farmers are currently using to out-winter cattle, such as the use of home-grown forage brassicas. In pursuit of sustainable and economically-viable livestock systems, grassland farmers are under increasing pressure to maximise their use of home-grown forage-based diets, such as forage brassicas for their livestock. Future research in this area would be of major benefit to Defra Policy Division in indicating appropriate policies for the development of economically and environmentally sustainable livestock production systems in the UK.

Fuirthermore, with proposed reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, there are oppourtunities to understand the behavioural response to these policies from an outwintering persepectives, i.e. in terms of future investment, cost-saving and destocking, as well as changes to cross-compliance measures. These will help to inform uptake of future outwintering practices.

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Declaration13. I declare that the information I have given is correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name Mike Smith. Date      

Position held Head of Department

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