Type of indicator
Qualitative
Relative dimension and aggregated criteria
Environmental sustainability: Herd management practices: Unproductive cattle
Description
This indicator refers to the average age of dairy heifers at first calving. Delays in age at first calving lengthen the unproductive period of dairy cows. They increase avoidable environmental costs associated with maintaining and feeding unproductive animals. This measure is recorded directly at the farm level. The indicator is based on technical information from Heravi Moussavi and Danesh Mesgaran (2008) and Pellerin et al. (2013).
Unit
Months
Indicator interpretation
Lower values are associated with better environmental management practices and are thus expected to lead to enhanced environmental sustainability.
Scale definition
| Reference values
(months) |
Scale | Dexi interpretation | References | ||
| 28 | <24 | Low | + | The reference values are based on the tool “Reproscope” created by IDELE, data based on the French cattle distribution in dairy farm (2018-2019). Quantile method based on 53953 cattle and all French breeds.
Scale built in a participative approach by scientists and experts |
|
| 31 | [24; 27] | Medium | to | ||
| low | |||||
| 35 | [27; 30] | Medium | to | ||
| high | |||||
| >=30 | High | – | |||
References
Expert opinion based on technical information from (Pellerin et al., 2013) and (Hevari Moussavi and Danesh Mesgaran, 2008).