ABSTRACT: Grazing systems perform multiple ecosystem
services including food production, climate regulation, nutrient
cycling, and erosion control. Consumers often associate grazing with
“healthier and happy cows” and are willing to pay premiums for
“grass-fed” dairy products. However, milk production and nutrient
utilization generally decrease in pasture-based systems relative to
confinement systems, which may reduce farm profitability depending on
milk prices. It should be noted that there is limited research reporting
both milk nitrogen (N) efficiency and methane emissions in confined
versus grazing dairy cows. Therefore, our overarching objective was to
build data sets to compare nutrient utilization in dairy cows under
confinement or grazing management where milk N efficiency or methane
emissions or both were reported in the same studies. Dietary strategies
to mitigate methane emissions in grazing dairy systems will be also
explored.
BIO: André F. Brito is an Associate Professor
of Dairy Cattle Nutrition and Management in the Department of
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food systems at the University of New
Hampshire. He grew up in the Northeast of Brazil (Bahia state) and
received his B.S. degree in Veterinary Medicine (1996) and a M.S degree
in Animal Nutrition (1999) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais
in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. André moved to the United States in 1999 to
pursue a Ph.D. in Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin with his
research focused on N utilization in dairy cows. He accepted two
postdoctoral positions at the Federal University of Viçosa (2004) and at
the Dairy and Swine Research and Development Centre in Sherbrooke,
Canada (2006). His lab focuses on improving nutrient use efficiency in
lactating dairy cows under conventional and organic management through
applied research ranging from amino acids nutrition to forage sources to
grazing supplementation strategies.
Co-hosted by Cornell University and the Northeast Climate Hub