Aim.

Develop a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in livestock farms with rotational management of the pasture according to botanical composition.

Materials and methods:

Dairy farms from Cotopaxi, at 2800-3590 meters above sea level, were compared. Farm 1: load of 1 and 1.2 AU/ha, with 50% Plantain (Plantago lanceolata), 50% White Clover (Trifolium repens). Farm 2: Load of 1 and 1.2 AU/ha, 85% Ryegrass (Lolium perenne)-15% White clover (Trifolium repens). Farm 3: Load of 1 and 2.1 AU/ha, 33% Ryegrass-33% Plantain-34% White Clover. Fertilization, balancing and crossbred, New Zealand and North American type Holstein animals and grass rest were used.

Results:

There were differences in land use, coinciding in farms 1 and 3, in family labor. On Farm 1, rest was 15 to 28 days and NDF from 47.38 to 28.03 and 1.96 to 2.45 Mcal of energy and in 3, Metabolizable Energy values ​​from 1.99 to 40 days and 2 .11 to 35 days, less milk/cow than 3 and higher than 1. In milk production/ha, farms 1 and 3 higher with 24 kg vs 19 kg. This was positive for ACV on those farms. There was potential to convert more of the system's energy into products.

Conclusion:

In the LCA, a coincidence was found with indicators of specialized systems in milk production, nitrogen balances, energy and their relationships with the environment and emissions, although efficiency can be recovered with improvements in management and without extra inputs to the farm.