SimsDairy provides the opportunity to examine several emission mitigation strategies (greenhouse gas and other nitrogen emissions) for a dairy cattle farm and the size of this mitigation effect for this farming system.

An example, using realistic values, is provided in the MilKey platform in order to give information about the functionality and the results of the SimsDairy model regarding the effect of mitigation strategies on the emissions from a dairy cattle system in comparison to a reference scenario (baseline). Therefore, the results presented in this chapter of the MilKey platform are a product of simulations and they are not derived from real data acquired from the dairy cattle farming systems examined during the MilKey project. The results will be updated after the acceptance of a manuscript that has been submitted for publication. The potential effect of various mitigation strategies to the contribution of these GHG emission sources to the total GHG emissions, emitted N substances to the total N emissions, and N hotspots to the total N emissions of the dairy cattle farming system can be shown in the following steps:

  • Check the mitigation practices that have been assessed: Each time the cursor is placed on a mitigation practice (from the list below), the user is able to see a short description of this practice.
  • Click on the mitigation practice: The user is able to see the effect of the mitigation practice on the contribution of the various sources to the total GHG emissions. This is done in comparison to the relevant effect of the baseline scenario. The tables and the figures for the baseline and the mitigation scenarios are simultaneously visible to the user, allowing an easier visual comparison of these results. A note appears to the user explaining if the alternative scenario tested leads to higher or lower total GHG emissions from the dairy cattle farming system.

The key features of the dairy production systems modeled in Table 1

The mitigation methods are presented in Table 2

The results of the emission mitigation practices are outlined below:

WCi (Western European conventional intensive system)

WOs (Western European organic semi-extensive system)

ECs (Central-Eastern European conventional semi-extensive system)

MCi (Mediterranean conventional intensive system)

NCs (North European conventional semi-extensive system)

ACs (Atlantic European conventional semi-extensive system)

Test