Type of indicator
Quantitative
Relative dimension and aggregated criteria
Environmental sustainability: Dairy herd management practices: Circular feed supply
Description
The percentage of local production refers to the dependency on external feed supply of the dairy system (i.e., from dairy calves to dairy cull cows). We consider production as local when it is produced within a limited perimeter around the farm. This indicator measures the contribution of the local territory (i.e., an area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state) to the local dairy enterprise. It takes into consideration the transport of off-farm inputs, which plays an important role in GHG emissions from dairy production (Üçtuğ, 2019). The perimeter is limited to a radius of 100-kilometers (km) around the farm.
For concentrates used for dairy animals, only the production’s location is considered. Therefore, the origin of feedstuffs included in concentrates is not taken into account.
On-farm production is considered as local.
Indicator calculation
(𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠𝑒 / 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠𝑒 ) * 100
Where:
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠𝑒 = Total amount of locally produced feed use (e.g., concentrates and forage), expressed in tonnes of DM (t DM)
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑠𝑒 = Total amount of feed use (e.g., concentrates and forage), expressed in t DM
Unit
Percentage
Indicator interpretation
Higher values are associated with better environmental management practices and are thus expected to lead to enhanced environmental sustainability.
Scale definition
| Reference values
(%) |
Scale | Dexi interpretation | References | ||
| 55 | >80 | High | + | Adapted on the concentrate-
forage ratio from (Machado et al., 2014). Scale built in a participative approach by scientists and experts |
|
| 45 | [60;80] | Medium to high | |||
| [40;60] | Medium to low | ||||
| 35 | <40 | Low | – | ||
References
Based on the recommendations to reduce the carbon footprint of dairy production, transport plays an important role and should be strongly reduced.
Üçtuğ, F.G., 2019. The Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Dairy Products. Food Engineering Reviews 11(2), 104-121.