Economic and environmental sustainability in relation to dairy cow longevity

Summary

Extending dairy cow longevity has been considered an option to contribute to more sustainable milk production from an economic, environmental, as well as societal perspective. In addition, longevity is regarded one of the animal welfare indicators to reflect better health management practices. However, increased disease incidence due to older age can also result in milk losses or discard and higher disease treatment costs. Therefore, the objective of this dissertation was to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of dairy farm management practices related to dairy cow longevity.

The study illustrated the possibility to obtain a high cattle longevity and its association with the herd, economic performance of dairy farms. In addition, the possibility of extending cattle longevity by altering reproduction or disease prevention management were conducted. The results of this study unveil the impact of extending cattle longevity on the economic and environmental performance of dairy farms.