The dairy goat and dairy sheep sectors are only small sectors and thus not much was happening at the European level regarding systematic CO2 monitoring on such companies.
Within the European project Farmtopia, in cooperation with Govaerts&Co, the basis of the Farmdesk climate module for dairy cows was adapted to small ruminants. We arrived at a calculation module that allows us to calculate the CO2-emissions in accordance with international standards. There is cooperation with pilot companies from Flanders, the Netherlands and France.
The baseline calculations are behind us and we are getting exciting results. Since we are dealing with both organic and conventional farms and since these farms differ greatly in terms of their operations, the results are also very diverse. To give a picture of the results, we want to present them anonymously, without judgement but in comparison with CO2-emission figures from the literature.
We learned from the following figures from a European Commission publication that the there is a fairly large variation in the CO2 emissions per kg of milk from small ruminants across member states. This ranges from in the neighborhood of 1 kg CO2 equivalents per kg of milk to more than 10 kg CO2 equivalents per kg of milk. Compared to dairy cow figures, these are substantially higher. Among dairy cows, the figures also start near 1 kg CO2 equivalents per kg of milk but the emission of CO2 equivalents go just above 2.5 kg CO2 equivalents per kg of milk in the countries with the highest emissions per kg of cow's milk.
The majority of Farmdesk dairy farms have a CO2 emission per kg of FPCM milk that ranges from 1 to 1.2 kg, low compared to that of small ruminants, will prove.
The CO2 emission monitoring of the pilot companies involved with average company information per year from the period before 2024 gives following results as reference:
Company A
Farm A is a mainstream dairy sheep farm with year-round barn housing and a ration based on grass silage and pellets.
Productivity in the 2024 period was 2.06 kg of milk with 6.31% fat and 5.25% protein.
Company B
Farm B is an organic dairy sheep farm with grazing during the summer months and a ration based on grass-clover silage, by-products and concentrates.
Productivity in the 2024 period was 1.16 kg of milk with 6.65% fat and 5.35% protein.
Company C
Company C is a mainstream dairy goat farm with year-round barn housing and a ration based on grass (clover) silage, alfalfa, fodder beets, concentrates and kibble.
Productivity in the 2024 period was 3.7 kg of milk with 3.67% fat and 3.34% protein.
Company D
Company D is an organic dairy goat farm with summer grazing and a ration based on grass (clover) silage, concentrate ingredients and very limited kibble.
Productivity in the 2024 period was 4.43 kg of milk with 3.85% fat and 3.10% protein.
Discussion
We get confirmation of our suspicion that in the countries concerned (with high skill with small ruminants) the emission rates are relatively low compared to most European countries.
Furthermore, we do note that emissions from goat farms are substantially lower than those from sheep farms. Both in terms of total CO2 emissions as on enteric emissions. The relatively lower productivity certainly plays an important role in this.
The differences between conventional and organic farms are logical regarding emissions associated with homegrown feed, where the prohibited use of nitrogen fertilizer has a positive impact on emissions. Organic farms with high productivity can keep their footprint lower than conventional farms.
Furthermore, we see relatively higher emissions associated with purchased feeds on conventional farms. This is due to the lower farm autonomy on feed supply that is often characteristic of conventional farms.
These initial calculations already teach us that this is also how companies can learn a lot from each other. Productivity is important. Wherever possible, use forage legumes to avoid nitrogen fertilizer. Strategically choosing concentrate raw materials with a low footprint always pays off.
With this information in mind, the pilot companies continued working, and we monitored these companies twice in the meantime, six months apart.
The results will be explained in a subsequent article.
The development of the Climate Tool for Small Ruminants is co-financed by the European Union.
