ABSTRACT
The production of good quality milk depends upon the conversion of sunshine to forage and grain and the conversion of those sources of feed to milk, within the cow. Cows have an advantage over many other animals in that they can convert human-inedible feed into human-edible food, thereby feeding people from forages – something our physiology does not allow us to do directly. Producing milk from forage is superior to producing meat, in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and resource and land use, as greater quantities of high-quality protein can be produced over time and per animal (Smil, 2002; Phetteplace et al., 2001).
