Zweijährige Laktationen durch einmal ausgesetzte Kalbung eine Fallstudie

Summary

In recent Danish research (Lehmann 2016) extended lactations are ranging up to 17 months. In this paper the data of a Belgian dairy farm with two years lactations (or
intermitted calving) are examined. The two years lactation of 31 cows result in a lower replacement rate (16 %), less costs for rearing calves and heifers besides less
animals being slaughtered for about the same amount of milk. During the two years lactation of 9 cows, milk production was reduced in the second year of the lactation (2012) by an average of -718 kg. But it did increase in the following one years lactation by +1385 kg. Thus the lactation following the intermitted calving did more than compensate for the reduced performance in the second half of the two years
lactation. Over three years of lactation (2012-2014) it was +222 kg with intermitted calving compared to the control group. From a vegetarian perspective, during a two
years lactation, theoretically only half of the animals as before are being born and slaughtered, while producing the same amount of milk. This might be a possibility to
generally reduce the amount of animals slaughtered and a step towards a cattle husbandry without slaughtering.