Dansk
With climate and animal welfare high on the agenda, the dairy farms of the future face an important task: making cows live and produce for longer. But how much difference does this actually make to a herd’s methane emissions?
Improved Longevity and Maximized Use of Sexed and Beef Semen
In this SimHerd analysis, we explore how improved longevity can benefit both the bottom line and the climate. The starting point is a conventional herd of 250 cows (large breed) with average production and longevity levels. The herd (baseline scenario) uses 60% and 16% sexed semen on heifers and cows, respectively, and 37% beef semen on cows.
In the future scenario (after 10 years), we examine the effects of improving longevity through better reproduction, fewer diseases, and lower mortality among calves and cows. At the same time, we maximize the use of sexed and beef semen—completely eliminating the use of conventional semen.
Table 1 shows the technical differences between the baseline and the longevity scenarios, both with and without increased use of sexed and beef semen.
Table 1. Technical differences and changes in gross margin per cow-year and methane emissions between the average herd (Baseline) and scenarios where longevity is improved across all parameters, with and without maximized use of beef semen (BS). The calculations are based on 250 cow-years.
|
|
Today |
Improved longevity |
Improved longevity + max sexed and beef semen |
|
Kg fat + protein/cow-year |
831 |
860 |
858 |
|
Replacement rate, % |
35 |
25 |
24 |
|
No. young stock |
241 |
251 |
178 |
|
Disease treatments per 100 cows |
82 |
41 |
41 |
|
Cow mortality, % |
5 |
2.6 |
2.6 |
|
Calf mortality, % |
6.6 |
3.2 |
3.2 |
|
Age at first calving, months |
14 |
12.5 |
12.5 |
|
Reproduction efficiency |
0.18 |
0.29 |
0.29 |
|
GM/cow-year |
19,804 DKK |
22,236 DKK |
22,260 DKK |
|
Methane/kg fat+protein (different from today) |
|
-2.2% |
-5.3% |
The changes in the future scenario are significant — it is a future scenario, after all — but they are not unrealistic in the long run if the right decisions and investments are made. Over a 10-year period, the maximum investment for the simulated herd of 250 cows would be around 4.7 million DKK.
Better Health, Reproduction, and Yield Increase Longevity
When improved health enhances longevity, it also reduces the production losses caused by diseases in the baseline herd. Milk yield is further improved because healthier heifers achieve better performance in their first lactation. Better health and higher yield also reduce the risk of culling, while improved reproduction further decreases the number of cows culled due to infertility.
Better Longevity = Lower Climate Impact
By improving longevity while using only sexed and beef semen, the herd can achieve a 5.3% reduction in methane emissions per kilogram of fat and protein. For a herd of 250 cows, this climate improvement corresponds to planting 3.7 hectares of forest or removing 20 diesel cars from the roads.