Does it matter for the environment how much forage our dairy cows eat?
Type de document
report
Langue source
-- Langue source --
Titre
Does it matter for the environment how much forage our dairy cows eat?
Titre français
Titre anglais
Auteur(s)
- STEINSHAMN Håvard
- WALLAND Finn
- KOESLING Matthias
Editeur(s)
Autre(s)
Id
A76XKEUM
Version
3696
Date ajout
3 mai 2021 15:04
Date modification
3 mai 2021 15:12
Résumé
Two hundred dairy farms in Central Norway were categorised into three nearly equal sized groups;
‘Low’ (68 farms), ‘Medium’ (67 farms) and ‘High’ (68 farms), according to the annual allowance of
concentrate feeds by the dairy cows to test effect of concentrate allowance on indicators of
environmental impact and financial performance. The average annual concentrate allowance per cow
was 15.4, 18.8 and 21.7 GJ net energy of lactation (NEL) and annual energy corrected milk (ECM) yield
per cow were 7868, 8421, and 8906 kg in ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ and ‘High’, respectively. Standard life cycle
assessment and economic analysis methods were used to determine some indicators of environmental
impact of milk production and financial performance, and the functional unit used was the amount of
2.78 MJ edible energy, corresponding to 1.0 kg of energy corrected milk (ECM) or 0.42 kg of meat or
any combination of milk and meat amounting to 2.78 MJ. The global warming potential, energy
intensity and nitrogen intensity were on average 1.46 kg CO2-eq./kg ECM-eq., 5.61 MJ energy use/kg
ECM-eq., and 6.83 N input/N produce, respectively, and did not differ between the groups. Farms
with ‘Low’ supply of concentrate used less land of total land use for growing purchased feed off-farm
than those with ‘High’ (0.39 vs. 0.46 ha/ha), but the total land necessary per kg ECM-eq. delivered was
greater (‘Low’ 3.24 vs. ‘High’ 2.84 m2/kg ECM-eq.). Gross margin per kg ECM-eq. delivered was on
average higher on ‘Low’ farms (6.57 NOK/kg ECM-eq.) than ‘Medium’ (6.04 NOK/ kg ECM-eq.) and
‘High’ (5.73 NOK/kg ECM-eq.). Our analysis does not support the general assumption that higher
concentrate feeding, lowers global warming potential and fossil energy needed per kg of milk and meat
produced compared with more extensive systems.
Note
None
CRAW tags
- AB - Modalité bio
- FREDO alimentation animale
- FREDO aspect technico-économique
- FREDO environnement
- GEO Norvège
- analyse cycle de vie
- bovin
- bovin laitier
- feed
- life cycle assessment
- élevage
WEB tags
Pages
18
Date caractères
22/04/2021
Date publication
22 avril 2021