home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

Environmental impact of dam-calf contact in organic dairy systems: A scenario study

Mogensen, Lisbeth; Kudahl, Anne Braad; Kristensen, Troels; Bokkers, Eddie A.M.; Webb, Laura; Vaarst, Mette and Lehmann, Jesper Overgaard (2022) Environmental impact of dam-calf contact in organic dairy systems: A scenario study. Livestock Sciences, p. 104890. [In Press]

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S1871141322000701-main.pdf] PDF - English
Limited to [Depositor and staff only]

1MB

Document available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871141322000701?via%3Dihub


Summary

Systematic separation of cow and calf early after calving is common practice in both organic and conventional dairy farming. The main objective of this paper was to develop different scenarios for dam-calf contact and quantify their effects on milk uptake by the calf and environmental sustainability of the produced milk and meat from these systems. Scenarios were set up of organic dairy systems to analyze the effect of different dam-calf systems with either half-time or full-time contact between cow and calf for 28, 51 or 91 days. Based on experience from practice and literature, we assumed a total milk uptake of 1,110 kg ECM milk with part-time contact and 1,207 kg ECM milk with fulltime contact over 91 days. These scenarios were compared to traditional calf rearing systems with direct separation after birth and milk feeding from a bucket with low or high milk feeding levels of 460 and 630 kg ECM, respectively, in the first 91 days. The scenarios were analyzed at a milk production level of 9,000 kg ECM per cow per year and with a sensitivity analysis covering yield levels of 7,000, 11,000 and 13,000 kg ECM per cow per year. At a production level of 9,000 kg ECM per year and full-time dam-calf contact throughout the milk period, only 85% of the milk produced could be delivered to the dairy company, compared to 93% when a low-level of milk is fed from a bucket. This means that there were fewer kg products to bear the environmental impacts, and hence the carbon footprint and land use from production per kg of ECM milk and meat was increased by between 5 and 9%, while the corresponding increase in impact at the highest yield level of 13,000 kg ECM was only between 4 and 6%. Besides environmental sustainability of cow-calf contact systems, the broader context of such systems


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
dairy cattle
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_2108
English
environmental impact
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_24420
English
calf housing
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_d27a296f
English
cows
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1939
English
rearing systems
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_29461
Subjects: Animal husbandry > Production systems
Farming Systems > Farm economics
Farming Systems > Farm nutrient management
Research affiliation: European Union > CORE Organic > CORE Organic Cofund > GrazyDaiSy
Denmark > Organic RDD 4 > KALVvedKO
DOI:10.1016/j.livsci.2022.104890
Deposited By: Vaarst, Dr. Mette
ID Code:43094
Deposited On:18 Jan 2022 14:01
Last Modified:06 Mar 2022 16:43
Document Language:English
Status:In Press
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics