Sustainability of dairy cattle production: the need for a trade-off between environmental impacts and animal welfare

Livestock farming has been attributed with a significant role in climate change, with the sector responsible for several detrimental environmental impacts (EI), including emissions to the atmosphere, natural resource consump- tion and waste generation. Animal welfare is a key component of livestock farming sustainability. Still, EI mitigation strategies of livestock systems can conflict with the need to ensure animals have a high level of welfare. If, on one hand, production intensification results in the minimization of EI; on the other hand, it can negatively impact animals’ welfare, which paradoxically leads in turn to an increase in EI. Ruminant production systems are characterized by their multi-functionality, in that they provide ecosystem services, including pasture, landscape and biodiversity preservation. Yet, existing models for calculating environmental impacts (life cycle assessment) and animal welfare (Classyfarm System, Legislative Decree 136/2022) neglect ecosystem services in their assessments. This shortcoming identifies an important methodological gap, preventing the accurate identification of sustainable breeding models. Therefore, this study aims to extend the understanding of what is required to obtain a balance between animal welfare and production intensification by applying a broader ecosystem perspective. In other words, this research aims to incorporate ecosystem services into this trade-off to generate a fairer and more comprehensive evaluation of EI.