Resetting Priorities for Sustainable Dairy Farming under Global Changing
Data
2013
Autores
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Catherine T. Hernandez
Resumo
Global change increasingly affected agricultural production and global community has begun to refocus in a change in livestock production, defending the use of sustainable strategies. Considerations with respect to changing environments should also address the dairy farm systems and new goals have to be designed. Good farming practices should regard their need for on-going adaptation to an ever-changing environment that should offer solutions for buffering against climatic extremes, disease epidemics, changing nutrient availability, seasonal availability of forage and other stresses that will add to an already heterogeneous environmental condition. Sustainable dairy systems should be adjusted to these new expectations, and be indeed adapted to the new agricultural policies and the increasing demands of the consumers for products free of drug residues (safety) and be more ecofriendly produced. The key to success is to maximise farm efficiency finding the right balance between the production system and the management techniques to maximise the output for food production, involving a suitable dairy cow biotype, which may trigger new strategies for feeding, breeding and health control whilst minimising impact on the environment and ensuring animal welfare and profitability for their business. This chapter book pretends to present a holistic capture of main issues regarding management, feeding regimes, breeding, reproductive efficiency with examples of current sustainable production systems.