Breeding a sustainable future for milk production

Abstract

Selective breeding in livestock has contributed to a remarkable increase in farm productivity and a reduction in carbon footprint in recent decades. This study evaluated selective breeding for more sustainable dairy cows based on both carbon (carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO2-eq) per cow) and economic (pounds sterling (£) per cow) index values derived for 1042 female dairy cows in the UK that had completed their lifespan. Economic and carbon coefficients were attributed to the genetic background of each animal for a range of commonly directly measured production (milk volume, milk fat yield, milk protein yield) and fitness traits (somatic cell count, fertility and lifespan). A high negative rank correlation was found between the economic and carbon index values among cows (rho = −0.72). Benchmarking cows on a carbon index per cow, along with an economic index, can help to reduce the carbon footprint of milk production.