Einfluss von Milchleistung und Nutzungsdauer auf den Product Carbon Footprint von Milch bei ökologisch wirtschaftenden Betrieben in Süddeutschland

Summary

Quantification and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions is an intensively discussed topic. For dairy farms many studies consider a higher milk yield per cow for greenhouse gas mitigation but this often results in a reduction in herd fertility and thus more heifers are needed which may lead to more emissions in total. This paper presents the Product Carbon Footprint of 36 organic dairy farms and analyses the influence of milk yield per cow and longevity of dairy cows. Results are: (1) a product carbon footprint of 1,61 kg CO2eq/kg fat and protein corrected milk on average, (2) increasing milk yield per cow causes decreasing product carbon footprints (coefficient of determination 48 %) and (3) decreasing longevity per cow causes decreasing product carbon footprints but to a lower degree of influence (coefficient of determination 16 %). With regard to climate protection, not considering ethical aspects, a high milk yield per cow should be achieved rather than to focus on longevity.