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Dairy farming systems and environment in mountainous areas
Full text linkFor several decades, the practice of farming in mountain areas has played a key role to the proper management of the landscape, the conservation of the biodiversity as well as the soil protection. Moreover, it has significantly contributed to the protection of those areas from avalanches and fires, while at the same time it keeps reinforcing the local economy, thereby acting as a counterweight to abandonment. The mountain animal husbandry is by definition multifunctional and multidisciplinary. In fact, mountainous farming consists of a complex and dynamic system. The harmony and the balance between human activities and nature requires some of the most precious human skills, like patience, self-abnegation, endurance to handiwork and frugality, to name some, but above all, love for mother nature. These are characteristics that ensure continuity and vitality of the mountain for both humans and the surrounding nature. In Italy, almost half of the total land is classified as mountainous (47.5%). Nevertheless, farmers in mountainous regions (representing 30.9% of the national total) face several limitations. These limitations, linked to the existence of natural handicaps, cannot be easily overcome with investments. For example, in mountains the average temperatures are lower, resulting in shorter vegetative period. Moreover, the excessive fractionation, the major gradients and roughness of the lands and at the same time the lower fertility of soils, create the need for special machinery (often more expensive than those used in mainland farms) as well as increased labor and extra inputs for the farms. These factors can lead to a lower land (and consequently farm) productivity, which can be translated into a limited competitiveness of the mountain farms, compared to mainland. In addition, the difficulty of access and the distance of individual dairy farms from the lowland as well as the fewer processing facilities and their small size, create higher transportation costs and lower economies of scale.
Thus, the overall objective of this thesis was to verify some parameters of sustainability that are of great importance for animal husbandry in the mountain areas. The province of Trento was selected as a model area for this type of research. More precisely, we have analyzed the relationship between dairy farms and management of the Alpine pastures, in the light of the environmental value of semi-natural grasslands. The first and second contributions are related to this goal. In the last part a survey was carried out to assess the environmental footprint of dairy farms of Trento province, focusing on innovative aspects of nutrition and management of the animals bred.
More specifically, the goal of the first contribution was to analyze the role of the mountain livestock sector. At a first step, data were collected from the Veterinary Services of the province concerning the structures and the management of 395 Alpine summer pastures either with cattle (83 with only heifers and 262 including dairy cows) or sheep and goats (50 summer pastures). All the heifers and more than one third of dairy cows that kept on permanent farms of the province were brought to the temporary farms on the Alpine pastures during the summer season, with a frequency greater for cows of local and dual purpose breeds than specialized breeds (e.g. Holstein Friesian). Of the 610 permanent dairy farms associated with the Provincial Federation of Farmers, we have analyzed the differences between the dairy farms that move/do not move the lactating cows to Alpine summer pastures: i.e. the traditional dairy farms (small and medium size), with tied stall, local breeds and with low productivity, frequently using the summer pasture were compared to modern dairy farms of the same province. Results showed that the practice of transhumance to summer pasture has an important role for the dairy sector of Trento province, although the farmers changed the reasons why they choose to move the animals. In fact, the role of grazing as production support in the summer is relevant just for the traditional small and medium dairy farms, while in all cases it is important to access public subsidies that are undifferentiated between lactating cows, dry cows and replacement. The study displayed the fact that there is still the need to maintain the link between dairy farms and Alpine pastures, giving particular attention to the quality of the pasture management and the multi-functionality of services that can be provided by mountain farms.
The second part aimed in evaluating the effect of pasturing of dairy cows on milk yield and quality. To this purpose, a many of traits was considered. Body Condition Score (BCS), milk production and quality, milk coagulation properties, different set of parameters and information relating to dairy processing were recorded and analyzed. In total, date regarding 799 lactating cows were collected and analyzed during 2012 from 15 temporary farms on Alpine summer pastures located in the region of Trentino. The cows were reared in 109 permanent dairy farms. Effects of the breed, parity and days in milk were taken into account. The effects of Alpine summer pasture, and in particular of the amount of compound feed given to cows, were also considered. Information was gathered not only during the period that the cows spent at the Alpine summer pasture, but also before and after the alpine season, with the objective to evaluate the changes due to the environmental changes. Results showed that the summer transhumance had an effect more or less relevant in determining a decrease in production, but also depending upon the breed. Specialized breeds, with higher production levels in permanent dairy farms, suffer a greater drop in production than the local and dual purpose breeds. This was somehow expected, since local breeds have a greater adaptability and lower nutrients requirements.
Even the body condition score has been strongly influenced from the summer Alpine pasture. A decline in the first phase of the pastures and a subsequent recovery at the end of the pasture period was observed. Differences between breeds existed, with those specialized breeds showing a greater decrease in body condition.
After the return from the Alpine pastures a decline in the percentage of fat content in milk (more evident in specialized breeds) was observed, while the protein content remained constant. Regarding the technological properties of milk, significant differences were found with the change of environment (after the reaching of temporary summer farms and after the return to permanent farms). The major differences for lactodynamographic properties as well as the individual cheese yields were observed between June and September. In summary, this work highlighted the better adaptation of local and dual purpose breeds in the Alpine environment and their good performance under environmental changes as well as the special conditions of the farming system in summer pasture.
The last part of this thesis aimed to evaluate the environmental footprint of mountain dairy cattle farms. The study was conducted in a specific area of the Province of Trento. Data were collected from 38 dairy cattle farms of mixed breeds using different farming systems. Data on the general farm management, diet, the production performance, the agronomic management of the surfaces, the management of waste, and the energy consumption were collected. A specific questionnaire was developed and tested to this purpose. This specific questionnaire could also be used for further investigation in mountain region.
The above mentioned data were used to calculate the carbon footprint of the herds using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach. The study included the entire product life, i.e. from production of raw materials and their processing till the final product (the functional unit was the kilogram of milk). All the inputs and outputs associated to the functional unit were taken into account. Three categories of environmental impact of the farms were considered: i) carbon footprint (contribution to the production of greenhouse gases), ii) acidification and iii) eutrophication.
The values obtained for the three impact categories had large variability, with mean and standard deviation equal to 1.46 ± 0.58 kg for CO2 equivalent (eq), 27.18 ± 8.34 g for SO2 eq. and 7.91 ± 2.31 g for PO43- eq. per kg of milk (fat and protein corrected). The values obtained are comparable with previous studies carried out in mountain areas. The overall impact was divided between on-farm and off-farm components, and was shared according to mass allocation between milk and meat. Analysis of variance showed that the considered effects of housing (free vs fixed) and feed administration (traditional vs TMR), even if appeared statistically significant for some traits, slightly affected the high variability of the impact categories that can be observed among different dairy farms of the same group. This means that there are margins to mitigate the impact and increase the efficiency of farms with different structures and management.
Overall, the results of the present thesis provided with some interesting insights on the sustainability assessment of dairy farming systems in mountainous areas, adopting innovative methodological approaches. Looking ahead, the results obtained from experimental approaches could be expanded on a large pool of dairy farms to identify the indicators of reference for the evaluation of the sustainability and multi-functionality of mountain farms
Milk yield and quality of dairy and dual purpose cows reared in single breed and mixed breeds farms in mountain
No full textDairy farms of mountainous areas are characterized by low productivity, but generally the milk is used for the production of high quality and PDO cheeses. For this reason, the initial disadvantage can become an opportunity for the traditional dairy systems. This study was conducted on 473 dairy farms of the Trento province with the aim to verify the effect of farm management (environment) on the variability of the milk yield and quality due to the breed effect (genotype). In particular, the differences between breeds were estimated in mixed farms with different management and feeding strategies. For each farm we collected the following data: number of cow per breed, housing condition (free vs tie stalls), diet administration (Total Mixed Rations vs separate feeding) and quality (percentage of starch, NDF and Crude Protein). Milk production and quality data were collected from test day recording and Consortium of Cooperative Dairies of the Trento Province (CONCAST), for a total of 110,711 milk
analysis. A multiple regression analysis was performed to estimate the genetic contribution corrected for the structural and nutritional sources of variation. At national level, Brown Swiss (BS), Italian Simmental (IS) and two northeastern autochthonous breeds (Rendena – Re – and Alpine Grey – AG) produce much less milk than Italian Friesian (IF): -23.4%, -28.5%, -45.1% and -45.3%, respectively. These differences reflect both genetic and environmental effects on milk production. The estimates
obtained in mixed breed farms of Trento Province, after having taken into account the main structural (herd size, housing condition) and nutritional (TMR, use of silages, NDF%, CP%) sources of variation, shows further lower differences among breeds (BS -13.0%, IS -13.4%, Re -30.6% and AG -30.7%, respect to IF), that reflect more the genetic contribution to phenotype. Taking into account the milk composition, the differences among breeds in terms of daily fat + protein yield (BS -6.7%, IS -10.7%,
Re -33.4%, and AG -29.9%, respect to IF) are even smaller than for milk yield. In conclusion, farm management significantly affects milk yield and quality in mountainous dairy farms and it can strongly reduce the estimates of the differences among the breed of cows
Variation of milk coagulation properties, cheese yield, and nutrients recovery in curd of cows of different breeds before, during and after transhumance to highland summer pastures
No full textThis paper aimed at evaluating the effect of summer transhumance to mountain pastures of dairy cows of different breeds on cheese-making ability of milk. Data were from 649 dairy cows of specialized (Holstein Friesian and Brown Swiss) dual purpose (Simmental) and local (mostly Rendena and Alpine Grey) breeds. The Fourier-Transform Infra-Red Spectra (FTIRS) of their milk samples were collected before and after transhumance in 109 permanent dairy farms, and during transhumance in 14 summer farms (with multi-breeds herds) of the Trento Province, north-eastern Italy. A variety of 18 traits describing milk coagulation, curd firming, cheese yield and nutrients recovery in curd/loss in whey were predicted on the basis of FTIRS collected at the individual cow level. Moving the cows to summer farms improved curd firming traits but reduced cheese yields because of an increase of water and fat lost in the whey. During summer grazing, most of cheesemaking traits improved, often non-linearly. The milk from summer farms supplementing cows with more concentrates showed better curd firming and cheese yield, because of lower fat lost in the whey. The breed of cows affected almost all the traits with a worst cheese-making ability for milk samples of Holsteins through all the trial, and interacted with concentrate supplementation because increasing compound feed tended to improve cheese-making traits for all breed, with the exception of local breeds for coagulation time and of Brown Swiss for curd firming time. In general, summer transhumance caused a favourable effect on cheese-making aptitude of milk, even though with some difference according to parity, initial days in milk, breed and concentrate supplementation of cows
Highland Summer Pastures Play a Fundamental Role for Dairy Systems in an Italian Alpine Region
Full text linkIn the Alps, summer farms are temporary units where the livestock herds are moved during summer to graze on highland pastures. This study aimed to analyze the role of summer farms in the dairy farming systems of the Trento province, in the eastern Italian Alps. Data on the structures and management of the 395 active summer farms were collected from the veterinarian services of the province: 345 summer farms keep dairy cattle (83 only replacement, and 262 also lactating cows). Almost all the replacement cattle and more than one third (8,775 vs 24,934 heads) of the dairy cows reared in the permanent farms of the province are still moved to highland pastures during summer. Cows on milk of local and dual purpose breeds are moved to highland pastures more frequently than those of specialized breeds. On 610 permanent farms, we analyzed the differences between the units moving/not moving the lactating cows to summer farms. The traditional farms, with tie stalls, local breeds, small-medium herd size and low productivity used more frequently summer pastures than the “intensive” farms. Transhumance still plays a fundamental role for the dairy sector in this Alpine area, because it allows access to public contribution and is complementary to the management of traditional farms. To better assess its sustainability, these functions should be further investigated in relation with the role of summer farms in the conservation of biodiversity, cultural landscape, and touristic attractiveness
Transhumance of dairy cows to highland summer pastures interacts with breed to influence body condition, milk yield and quality
No full textThis paper aimed at testing the differences of adaptability of bovine dairy, dual purpose and local breeds during the summer transhumance to highland pastures (summer farms), evaluating temporal variations of body condition and of milk yield and quality. Data were from 799 dairy cows of specialised (Holstein Friesian and Brown Swiss), dual purpose (Simmental) and local (mostly Rendena and Alpine Grey) breeds, and were collected before and after the transhumance in 109 permanent dairy farms, and during transhumance in 15 summer farms of the Autonomous Province of Trento, north-eastern Italy. Body Condition Score (BCS), milk production and quality (fat, protein, casein, lactose, urea, SCS) were analysed for the fixed effects of breed, parity, days in milk, month, supplementary concentrate level, and for the random effects of summer farm and individual cow. Body condition score was influenced by transhumance to summer farms, with low values in July and a recovery at the end of the period. This pattern was particularly marked in the specialised breeds. Similarly, also milk production declined, especially for Holstein Friesian and Brown Swiss, so that towards the end of transhumance all breeds had similar milk productions. Returning to permanent farms did not compensate the specialised breeds for the production loss experienced at the beginning of the grazing season. In conclusion, local and dual purpose breeds adapt better than specialised breeds to the summer pastures, and this results into an important reduction of their productive gaps (with lower variations of milk quality) and in maintaining body fat reserves
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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