Researchers studied two options for reducing emissions over an animal’s lifetime: 1) changing from an annual calving system to extended lactation system on dairy farms and 2) increasing the longevity of ewes on wool enterprises to produce an extra year of wool and offspring.
Extended lactation produced lower total emissions and emissions intensity than annual calving and also resulted in higher operating profits. Increasing longevity of ewes led to similar emissions to the baseline scenario, largely as a result of similar stocking rates.
Primary researchers
Publications
Browne N, Behrendt R, Kingwell R, Eckard R (2014). Does producing more product over a lifetime reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase profitability in dairy and wool enterprises? Animal Production Science, 55, 49-55, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AN13188.
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