Abstract:
1. Introduction
Cattle milk is a nutrient-rich animal-based product that serves as a primary
source of nutrition for humans and is a main ingredient of various dairy
products such as cheese, yoghurt, and butter. Nonetheless, dairy production
has a significant negative influence on the environment. As demand and
production of cattle milk increase, the potential environmental impact will
also increase unless it is reduced. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the
ecological impacts associated with cattle milk production through an LCA.
2. Research Methodology
Utilizing the cradle-to-farm gate LCA approach, the environmental
performance of cattle milk produced on a zero-grazing farm was assessed.
The impact of one litre of cattle milk was obtained considering midpoint
and endpoint impact categories from the ReCiPe 2016 method. The
modeling of the production process and calculating the environmental
impacts were done using the SimaPro faculty version. Additionally, the
emission of GHG is calculated by the Cool Farm Tool(CFT).
3. Findings and Discussion
Feed production was the main contributor to impacts in milk production in
every category. Maize serves as the main component of the feed
composition. Therefore, there is a clear relationship between the
environmental impact of maize production and the impact of milk per unit.
The findings indicate that the carbon footprint of cattle milk production
averages 1.94 kg CO2 eq of milk, with feed production and cattle enteric
fermentation identified as the main contributors to GHG emissions.
4. Conclusion and implications
Literature-based control measures suggested here are aimed at minimizing
those environmental effects in order to attain the best improved
environmental performance without compromising on the technical and
quality of milk production. Mainly, environmental impact can be reduced
through sustainable agricultural practices, feed manipulation, and feed
additives.
