Feed use and nitrogen excretion of livestock in EU-27

The calculated total feed use in the EU-27 was 506 Tg dry mass in 2010. Dairy cows used 29%, other cattle 34%, pigs 17%, chicken 9%, sheep and goats 8%, and other animal categories 3% of the total feed use. Grass and annual forages were mainly used by dairy cows (30 and 49%, respectively) and other cattle (55 and 44%); pigs used most of the feed cereals (53%); protein-rich feed (e.g., soybean meal) were mostly used by pigs (34%) and chicken (24%). Differences between countries in feed use were large, mainly related to variations in national feed supply and animal productivity. Total N excretion of the animals amounted to 9.7 Tg in 2010, and varied between countries from 14 to 291 kg ha−1 of utilized agricultural land. The present study provides a uniform and transparent approach for evaluating feed use and N excretion in all countries of the EU-27. Our results underline the significant differences in N excretions between EU countries as a result of feed use variations, suggesting the need for basing N excretion estimations on feed use data. The dataset present in this study may serve as a basis for such efforts, also to improve national inventories of N emissions.