Beef production and air pollution. 3. Effects of duration and intensity of fattening on emissions of greenhouse gases and ammonia in beef production with Simmental suckler cow herds

The model calculations at hand quantify emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and ammonia (NH3) from beef production with Simmental suckler cow herds. This paper deals with varying fattening intensities that agree with current German agricultural practice. Both individual emissions of GHGs and NH3 from beef bulls and heifers as well as emissions from a suckler cow "family" with a useful life of the suckler cow of 4 years were calculated. The emissions were then related to the product, i.e. the overall carcass mass produced by the "family". Here, the contribution to the emission total of the suckler cows is paramount. It can be shown that it is advantageous to strive for high slaughter weights exceeding 550 kg animal(-1) and 400 kg animal(-1) for beef bulls and heifers, respectively. Higher weights are unlikely to further contribute to substantial emission reductions per unit of product. It is remarkable that relative NH3 emission reductions fall below those of GHG emissions.