The dairy sheep farm of George

Fotinoloulos is located at the village of

Dara, Kyparissias.

The farm has 240 sheep of a local breed

kept under extensive farming system of

low productivity.

The sheep are grazing all year round and

during the winter are offered

supplementary feed consisted of forages

and concentrates. Part of the forages are

home grown for the sheep feeding.

The average milk yield of the sheep is 105

lit/year with 6,5% fat and 5,5% protein

content.

Dairy Farm: GEORGE FOTINOPOULOS

Country: Greece

Region : Dara, Kyparissias

Climate area: Mediterranean

Forage System Code:

Extensive dairy sheep farm

Address: Dara, Kyparissia ,P.O. 24500 Messinia

Tel.: 0030 6977695075

email: ntareos1@gmail.com

Production Destination: Feta Cheese(PDO)

Breeding system: Extensive

Livestock: Dairy sheep

Longevity: 5 years

Consistency: 240

- in lactation period: 200

- in dry period: 5

Utilized agricultural area (ha) : 15

Oats: 6

Barley: 6

Cereals for grazing : 3

DAIRY FARM

GEORGE FOTINOPOULOS

Forage Systems for less GHG emission and more soil carbon

sink in Continental and Mediterranean Agricultural Areas

Farm activities to mitigate Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emission

Forage production, home grown,

with use of the farm manure instead

of mineral fertilizers

Increase of the cultivated land for

forage production to increase the

farm self-sufficiency in feedstuffs

(less purchased ones).

Harvesting of forages at an earlier

growth stage for hay making in

order to increase its digestibility and

reduce the GHG emissions.

Chemical composition (%) of the feedstuffs used in the farm

Component (%)

(nutrients)

Alfalfa

hay

Wheat

straw

Grass

hay

Corn grain Cotton

seed cake

Dry Matter 87.32 88.72 89.24 90.42 91.72

Crude Protein (CP) 13.25 2.54 7.92 8.42 24.15

Ether Extract (EE) 1.43 1.40 2.31 3.26 3.71

Ash 8.62 5.27 7.52 2.30 4.20

NDF 48.70 73.42 58.40 91.15 46.25

ADF 34.32 50.26 41.04 27.22 34.17

DM%* DM % ** CP % Ash % E.E. % NDF % ADF %

Fertilizer 1,60 92.47 15.36 10.64 2.47 53.51 31.40

Manure 17.21 92.77 21.07 9.96 1.98 50.23 28.00

Chemical composition (% in DM) of grass from vetch-oat co-cultivation with

sheep manure vs. mineral fertilizer

*Dry Matter (DM) in the initial fresh grass sample

** Dry Matter of the dried grass sample during the analysis

Forage Systems for less GHG emission and more soil carbon

sink in Continental and Mediterranean Agricultural Areas

DAIRY FARM

GEORGE FOTINOPOULOS

Manure

Fertilizer

Demonstration Day in the Farm

The cultivation

techniques applied at

the farm aim to produce

hay of high quality and

nutritive value. The

harvesting is done at the

“milky” stage when the

max yield of dry

matter/Ha combines with

the highest digestibility

The conservation

of hay is done by

sun drying, right

after harvesting to

the bales’ making,

in order to

minimize the

nutrients’ loss and

to prevent the

production of

mycotoxins during

their storage.

S a m p l i n g a n d c h e m i c a l a n a l y s i s o f f e e d s t u f f s

Approx ima te l y once pe r mon th

rep resen ta t i ve hay and concen t ra te

samp les a re t aken f o r chem ica l

ana l yses (d r y ma t te r, c rude p ro te i n ,

ash , e the r ex t rac t s , NDF and ADF)

and f o r myco tox i ns con tam ina t i on

de te rm ina t i on . Those ana l yses a re

pe r fo rmed a t t he Dp t . o f Nu t r i t i ona l

Phys io l ogy and Feed ing o f t he AUA.

Forage Systems for less GHG emission and more soil carbon

sink in Continental and Mediterranean Agricultural Areas

DAIRY FARM

GEORGE FOTINOPOULOS

The aim of farm function and management is to describe:

the production, evaluation and use of forages produced in the farm

and used for sheep feeding

the farm management and feeding practices followed with the

objective to reduce the GHG emissions

the good and environmentally friendly practices (GP) which should

be applied at the farm in order to reduce the GHG emissions

The Good Practices (GP) proposed by the

project Forage4Climate and accepted for

application by the farm are:

Use the farm’s manure for crops fertilization

for forages production in replacement of

mineral fertilizers, in order to increase the

soil organic carbon sink.

Increase of the cultivated land for forages

production to reduce the purchased

feedstuffs (e.g. soybean meal).

Improved sheep feeding with more well

balanced rations to increase feed efficiency,

by including cotton seed to increase dietary

energy density which reduces feed intake

and consequently GHG emissions

(methane).

Better grassland management in order to

avoid overgrazing and biodiversity

reduction.

The dairy sheep farm of

GEORGE FOTINOPOULOS

produces home grown forages by

co-cult ivat ion of vetch-oats, using

the farm’s manure instead of

mineral fert i l izers. The produced

grass ini t ia l ly is grazed by the

sheep (February- March) and then

is harvested (May) for hay

making. The concentrates are

total ly purchased.

Forage Systems for less GHG emission and more soil carbon

sink in Continental and Mediterranean Agricultural Areas

DAIRY FARM

GEORGE FOTINOPOULOS

Good Practices

Forage4climate is a four-year project that aims to demonstrate how

agricultural systems related to milk production can contribute to the

mitigation of climate change through:

-The adoption of good agricultural and farming practices that can be useful

to limit GHG emissions and to maintain or increase carbon sink in soils

(arable land, meadows and pastures) used to produce forages for

ruminants (cattle, sheep and goats),

- the development and dissemination of tools for accounting carbon stock

and GHG emissions in order to evaluate the effects of mitigation

intervantions.

-Forage4climate believes that it is possible to reduce the average carbon

footprint of the production of 1 kg of milk by 5%. This would represent a

reduction in emissions of 740,000 tons of CO2 equivalents per year for

milk production in Italy and Greece.

For the purposes of the project three regions in Pianure

Padiana (Piemonte and Emilia-Ramagna), Sardinia and

4 greek regions (Peloponnese,Thessaly, Sterea Ellada

και Epirus) were selected.