Contributions of animal nutrition to nutrient economy in milk production with healthy cows

Nutrient economy to produce food of animal origin will be more important in the future because of higher population and higher requests of such food all over the world. Besides of the conversion of feed into food of animal origin the whole food chain soil-plant-feed-animal- food should be considered in life cycle studies or ecobalances. The milk production is compared with other forms of animal production a very efficient way to produce protein of animal origin. Higher animal performances increase the efficiency of feed conversion and improve the potential to produce food or protein of animal origin per area cultivated land. Those effects will be relatively lower with higher animal performances. Unfavourable influencing factors (e.g. shorter using life, diseases) have a negative effect on feed or nutrient efficiency. Excretions (e.g. N, P, CH4) per kg product or protein decrease with higher performances. From the view of animal nutrition a high feed or energy intake is one of the most important prerequisites for high milk performances with healthy cows. Feed additives and some feeding measures should enrich milk with some valuable substances (e.g. CLA, trace elements, vitamins) to produce a so-called “Designer”-milk. The nutrient efficiency of such measures has to decide if it is useful or if other applications are more favourable for human nutrition.

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