Respectively members of the Departments of Animal Science and Engineering, their research has been aimed at examining the relationship between the input of non-renewable energy and the output of useful energy with the goal of identifying areas for improvement. They defined the non-renewable energy inputs to animal production as the energy equivalent of fuels for operating machinery and ventilation, drying crops, production of inorganic fertilizers, and production of machinery and buildings. Energy outputs were defined as the energy equivalent of human edible products of animal production and animal wastes used as fertilizer. Utilization of non-renewable inputs is currently not governed by efficiently. Using work done by Southweil and Rothwell in Ontario in 1977, the authors presented production efficiencies from non-renewable energy inputs.
Efficiency seems to be affected most by housing design and by cereal grain input.
They also compared the effects of different animal feed inputs for provision of dry matter. Using Nova Scotia yields, barley corn, corn silage, soybeans, hay, haylage and pasture were stacked up against a purchased and delivered feed concentrate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.