Nutrition and management implications of the U.S. dairy 2050 environmental stewardship goals and net zero initiative for bovine practitioners

Abstract

U.S. dairy collectively commits to achieve greenhouse gas neu­trality, optimize water use while maximizing recycling, and improve water quality by optimizing utilization of manure and nutrients by 2050. The farm and field strategy to achieve these goals is termed the Net Zero Initiative. Enteric methane miti­gation is a key area of focus for the 2050 Environmental Stew­ardship Goals and the Net Zero Initiative that is relevant to the dairy management and nutrition fields. Bovine practitioners have various critical roles to support the dairy value chain in making progress toward the 2050 environmental stewardship goals due to their focus on promoting cattle health, welfare and productivity. Bovine practitioners will contribute greatly to enteric methane mitigation and the evaluation of nutritional interventions to mitigate methane. Therefore, bovine practitio­ners need to better understand and articulate the environmen­tal value animal and feed management options provide in addi­tion to nutritional contributions, health status and cost savings.