Proposal for an integrated system for monitoring N flows from livestock husbandry in the autonomous Province of Bolzano – Northern Italy

The Province of Bolzano (Italian alpine area) has a human and animal density which is comparable to other regions of Northern Italy. However, the special nature of its mountainous lands means that potentially critical situations must be monitored: (i) there is considerable anthropic and animal pressure on valleys, where the population is concentrated; (ii) little land is available for spreading animal slurry according to environmentally-sustainable strategies (i.e. limiting the N rate). Therefore, an integrated system for monitoring the N rates spread in this region is proposed and applied to a set of pilot farms in South Tyrol. Unlike other similar systems, which have been proposed recently but are designed for monitoring intensive livestock husbandry only, this system also provides tools for managing alpine grazing through virtual fences (GNSS-equipped collars) and automatically compiling field-activity registers. The system considers each entity involved in the slurry chain from animal to field (collars; functional sites such as animal housing, tanks or digesters; tractors and slurry spreaders, etc.) and uses a multilevel-network approach, with a client-server logic for handling and combining all relevant information obtained. This flexible architecture also allows the system to handle farm contractors; it is suitable for third-party distribution and can generate many types of document to deal with environmental, legal and operational issues.