Sector sheet

Milk production involves several stages, from the collection of raw milk to the distribution of pasteurized or treated milk.

🚜 Sector

Types of production

There are 3 main types of production systems, based on the way the animals are fed:

Pastoral systems: These account for 9% of global milk volume (source: Atlas de l'herbivore 2014) and are associated with a diet made up of 90% grazed and mown grass. Herds are moved seasonally to give vegetation time to grow back.
Mixed systems account for 81% of global milk volume (source: Atlas de l'herbivore 2014) and are considered the norm. They combine areas of grassland reserved for livestock farming and areas of crops intended for human or livestock consumption.
Industrial livestock farms**: these account for less than 10% of global milk volume (source: Atlas de l'herbivore 2014). Livestock feed depends mainly on purchases of concentrates but also forage.

A distinction is also made between:

intensive farming, with large herds and the aim of achieving very high yields per cow
extensive farming, aiming to save on inputs and manage herd density according to the production potential of the pastures.

<aside> 💡 In France and Germany, the average farm size is 65 cows. The average farm size in the Netherlands is 94 cows, and 274 in Australia. In the United States, more than half of all dairy cows are raised on "mega-farms" of over 1,000 cows (source: CIRAD).

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Production stages

The stages in milk production are

Milking: Milk is first collected from dairy animals such as cows, goats and sheep. For example, dairy cows are milked twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. Milking can be manual or automated using milking machines.
Filtration: Raw milk from milking is filtered to remove impurities such as hair, dust and debris.