Energy use of animal-production activities

Tab. 8 gives an overview of the most important key figures of the dairy-cow, bull-fat-tening and pig-fatbull-fat-tening processes. As with crop farming, animal production is divided into favourable, average and unfavourable production regions. Favourable regions are those that input relatively little energy with reference to one kilogram of main product; output is assessed as shown in Tab. 1. Figure 12 shows this breakdown for dairy-cow, bull-fatte-ning and pig-fattebull-fatte-ning husbandry. Here, the selection of activities accounts for over 80 per cent of the supply of total marketable animal products in the EU, thus constituting a repre-sentative portion of the production activities. Due to the different dimensions in

product-related energy use, the graphs are scaled to the maximum requirements of each produc-tion activity. It is noticeable that there is a wide range in terms of energy use for both dairy-cow and pig-fattening processes, and an even wider range for bull fattening. Hence, for dairy farming the most favourable sites require only about a third of the energy of the least favourable sites, whilst for fattening pigs the range is slightly narrower. Moreover, the curve trend for pig fattening is distinguished from that for dairy farming by sharp jumps in the energy-requirement level within the favourable-production-quantity group. This can be

Tab. 8. Comparison of energy use in animal production for the EU-25

Region: European Union 25 Index / Unit Dairy cattle Bull fattening Pig fattening Energy requirement, product

Favourable sites* MJ/kg product 4.70 47 34

Average sites** MJ/kg product 5.39 60 40

Unfavourable sites*** MJ/kg product 7.52 100 45

Range

Unfavourable/favourable sites % 160 213 131

Energy requirement, animal

Favourable sites MJ/animal 36 026 16 766 2737

Average sites MJ/animal 37 697 19 424 3517

Unfavourable sites MJ/animal 43 261 30 182 4264

Standard deviation

Favourable sites MJ/animal 3727 1207 452

Average sites MJ/animal 4781 3727 395

Unfavourable sites MJ/animal 8248 8463 913

Yield level°

Favourable sites kg/animal 6745 357 81

Average sites kg/animal 6150 321 89

Unfavourable sites kg/animal 5062 302 96

*Contains the 25 per cent constituting the most favourable sites in terms of production quantity; **Contains the 50 per cent constituting the average sites in terms of production quantity; ***Contains the 25 per cent constituting the least favourable sites in terms of production quantity; ° Refers to the main product (by-products not considered). Source: own calculations. Year: average of 2001-2003.

Fig.12. EU production quantity of different ani-mal-production processes broken down according to relative energy use.

Source: own calculations.

Year: average of 2001–

2003.

Relative energy requirement in relation to production quantity

0

Total EU production quantity (%)

Relative energy requirement (% of max.)

Dairy cow production Pig fattening Bull fattening

Favourable supply

share Average supply share

Unfavourable supply share

attri buted to the fact that only 17 sites are responsible for 25 per cent of total EU produc-tion, with Brittany (FR), Denmark and Pays de la Loire (FR) alone accounting for around 18 per cent of the EU production quantity. By contrast, in dairy farming, 32 regions account for the most advantageous 25 per cent of the EU production quantity. What is striking in dairy farming is that in the unfavourable portion of the production quantity, which encom-passes 56 regions, there is a marked variability in energy use. This points to a lower degree of specialisation in dairy farming than in pig fattening in the EU. The same phenomenon can be found in the curve for bull fattening, which obviously shares a similar back-ground.

For the results analysis, as with plant production, energy use per kilogram of product is taken into account, with only the saleable milk, beef or pork being studied as a main product of the production process. In terms of yield levels, it is obvious that in both dairy farming and bull fattening, the most favourable sites have higher yield levels than the av-erage and unfavourable sites. This is striking for dairy cows in particular, since unfavoura-ble sites only produce around 72 per cent of the quantity of milk per animal of favouraunfavoura-ble regions. For fattening pigs, a different picture emerges. At 81 kg, the slaughter weight here is the lowest for the most favourable regions of the EU, whilst unfavourable sites produce weights of approx. 96 kg. Of the entire production quantity of the favourable sites, over 37 per cent is accounted for by Denmark alone, where slaughter traditionally takes place at a low final weight. By contrast, Southern and Eastern European regions with slaughter weights of around 100 kg are also to be found among the unfavourable sites. It should be noted here that at higher slaughter weights, the feed requirement rises with each kg of growth. This can be proven in the case of feed parameters for the respective groups.

Whereas in Denmark, 138 kg of feed cereals (equivalent to 75 per cent of EU-15 average), 52 kg of protein-rich feed (76 per cent of EU-15 average) and 9 kg of energy-rich feed (equivalent to 56 per cent of EU-15 average) are required per head, things are different for Tuscany (IT), where 330 kg of feed cereals (179 per cent of EU-15 average), 140 kg of pro-tein-rich feed (206 per cent of EU-15 average) and 27 kg of energy-rich feed (165 per cent of EU-15 average) are the norm. Here, it should be borne in mind that Denmark, with its average slaughter weight of 74 kg, represents 85 per cent of the EU-15 weight average, whilst Tuscany with its average slaughter weight of 119 kg represents 136 per cent of the EU-15 average.

Evaluations of the energy use per animal reveal a more complex picture. Thus, for dairy farming, favourable and average regions are on a nearly identical energy-use level, with around 36,000–38,000 MJ/animal. At unfavourable production sites (total energy use approx . 43,000 MJ/animal), the standard deviation of around 8,300 MJ/animal (correspond-ing to 19 per cent) is nearly twice as high as for the favourable regions. The assumption that we are dealing here with very heterogeneous sites is confirmed when we look at the standard deviation of the yield level. Whereas the favourable regions here have an energy use of around 708 kg/animal (corresponding to 10 per cent of the mean value), the unfa-vourable regions, with around 1,005 kg/animal (corresponding to around 20 per cent) re-veal a less clear-cut picture. Figure 13 shows the dairy-farming, beef-production and pig-fattening regions in terms of energy use per kg of product. Owing to technical reasons, bull-fattening cannot be shown own its own here, but only as a part of all beef-produc-tion activities (including heifer-fattening and calf-fattening).

The favourable sites for dairy-cow production are largely in the regions bordering the North Sea and in Eastern Germany, with the regions of Oevre Norrland in Sweden and Pie-monte and Basilicata in Italy also standing out. Oevre Norrland shows an above-average milk-yield level of around 7,400 kg/animal, which balances out its above-average energy use of around 38,500 MJ/animal. A different picture emerges for Piemonte, where for a

Fig. 13. Typical animal-husbandry sites of the EU graded according to their energy use. Source: own calculations. Year: average of 2001–2003.

*Covers all beef-produc-tion activities.

Dairy farming in the EU-25:

favourable sites Beef production* in the EU-25:

favourable sites Pig fattening in the EU-25:

favourable sites

Dairy farming: average sites Beef production: average sites Pig fattening: average sites

Dairy farming: unfavourable sites Beef production: unfavourable sites Pig fattening: unfavourable sites

yield level of 5,200 kg/animal, which is low for the group, below-average energy use of approximately 29,000 MJ/animal is required. With approximately 0.08 per cent of the to-tal EU production quantity and around 21,000 animals, Basilicata is a fairly unimportant site that produces milk at a low yield level with a low energy requirement. The average sites are to be found throughout the whole of Central Europe, but also along Spain’s Atlantic coast and in parts of Great Britain and Italy, as well as in Ireland and Sweden. Unfavoura-ble production sites are to be found in the South of France, in Galicia and Northern Portu-gal, and in parts of Italy and Greece, as well as in a belt extending from Slovenia across the new EU countries of Eastern Europe up to Finland. For beef production, a similar picture emerges, with favourable sites being found to a larger extent in Central Europe, and aver-age sites all around Central and Northern Europe as well as parts of Italy. Unfavourable sites may be observed in southern and eastern parts of Europe. A similar picture also emerges for the unfavourable pig-fattening sites. By contrast, an average energy-use level is to be found in many parts of Spain and in the Benelux countries and Western Germany, as well as in parts of Poland and Sweden. Regions in Northwest France, Denmark, Southwestern Britain, Southern Sweden and Eastern Germany also boast favourable energy-use levels.

4.1.4 Energy-use spectrum of animal-husbandry processes, using the