Energy use and management in dairy farms

This study aimed to investigate the energy demands in dairy cow farming to define the energy intensity of different categories of farms by efficiency indicators, identifying the critical operations and suggesting technologies that could be appropriate for energy savings. The electricity consumptions of a set of fourteen dairy farms, ranging from 40 to 300 milking cows, were analysed for one year with reference to the main operations (milking, milk cooling, lighting, ventilation, manure handling) and the equipments used. The overall electricity consumptions accounted for 466 kWh/cow.yr, ranging from 314 to 630 kWh/cow.yr. Milk productions, which ranged between 270,000 and 3,030,000 kg/yr per farm, required on average 5 kWh/100 kg.yr. The highest energy demands were associated to milk harvesting (refrigeration and milking procedures) which account for 41% of total, while lighting showed the lowest.