Type of indicator

Qualitative

Relative dimension and aggregated criteria

Environmental sustainability: Biodiversity conservation: Animal breeds and crops diversity

Description

It indicates the number of different breeds per species occupying the dairy farm. It represents the genetic diversity of the herd. Only the dairy herd is taken into account. This indicator is positively associated with herd resilience. More specifically, the herd genetic diversity is an important aspect to improve herd resilience against disease and parasitism. However, it adds difficulty to herd management as different breeds may vary in terms of dietary requirements.

Indicator calculation

π‘‡π‘œπ‘‘π‘Žπ‘™ π‘›π‘’π‘šπ‘π‘’π‘Ÿ π‘œπ‘“π‘π‘Ÿπ‘’π‘’π‘‘π‘  𝑖𝑛 π‘‘β„Žπ‘’ π‘™π‘–π‘£π‘’π‘ π‘‘π‘œπ‘π‘˜ / 1

Unit

Number of breeds

Indicator interpretation

Lower values indicate larger negative impacts on the environment.

Scale definition

Based on Phocas et al. (2017), increasing the diversity of breeds in the dairy herd is hard to implement. The reference values suggested below are based on this fact and on the observed data of reproscope (distribution of breeds through French dairy farm).

 

Reference

values (breed)

 Scales Dexi interpretation References
Minimum = 1 >=4 High + Based on the information from (Phocas et al., 2017) applied to a Swedish case study in (RodrΓ­guez-BermΓΊdez et al., 2019).

 

Scale built in a participative approach by scientists and experts
3 Medium to high
2 Medium to low
1 Low –

 

 

References

Adapted from (Last et al., 2014; Phocas et al., 2017)

Audiovisuals