The report – A Dairy Farm’s Footprint: Evaluating the Impacts of Conventional and Organic Farming Systems – provides the first comprehensive analysis of the environmental footprint of alternative dairy farm management systems.

Key findings on cow welfare

• Rates of culling cows because of cow health problems or falling production are nearly twice as high in the conventional Holstein herd (27%) than the organic Jersey herd (15%).
• The number of lactations in the productive life of a conventional Holstein is 2.1, while for the pasture-based organic Jersey cow it’s 4.5.
• The average age of the conventional cow at the end of productive life is 4.72 years, while for the organic cow it’s 6.45 years.

Key findings on environmental impact

• Methane is 25 times more potent than CO2 in terms of global warming potential. The organic cow produces only 138kg of methane each year, while the conventional Holstein produces 243kg.
• No synthetic nitrogen, herbicides or insecticides are used to produce the milk in the organic system.
• Producing the lifetime feed requirement for each cow in the conventional Holstein system requires 8.3kg of herbicides and 1.3kg of insecticide.
• The use of synthetic nitrogen in the conventional Holstein system equates to 97kg for each cow, each year.

Emma Hockridge, head of policy at the Soil Association, said: “This new research from America, where mega dairies began, proves how bad for the environment intensive dairy systems can be. It confirms what common sense tells us: when milk is produced in a less intensive way, such as in organic systems, this isn’t only better for the cows, but better for the environment too.”