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Sheep milk production is an important livestock sector for the European Mediterranean countries including the regions of southern Italy. The main objective of this study was to investigate the carbon footprint and the related damages generated by dairy sheep farming by using a simplified LCA approach based on the ReCiPe End-point method. We used 1 kg of Fat and Protein Corrected Milk (FPCM) as functional unit (FU). The average flock size was about 400 animals and the average farm size was about 66 ha. In addition to milk all farms produced meat and wool. Therefore, we performed an economic allocation by dividing all inputs and outputs among milk and the other two co-products (meat and wool), based on farm financial statements. The CF impact determined by 1 kg of FPCM was 3.78 kg CO2-eq. The highest CF impact was mainly due to the enteric fermentation, producing biogenic CH4 as the prevalent chemical compound, followed by the production of meadow hay. Based on the ReCiPe End-point method the impact of 1 kg of FPCM from dairy sheep farming was 7.35 E-06 Disability Adjusted Life Years, whereas the Damage to Ecosystem Diversity was 3.29 E-07 Species*year and the value of the Damage to Resource Availability 0.025 $. In conclusion, the environmental management and sustainability of sheep farms should be constantly controlled with the aim of minimizing their impacts without compromising the competitiveness of this productive sector.

The aim of this paper was to examine the environmental consequences of raising buffalo calves, as assessed by life cycle assessment. Life cycle assessment has been widely used to assess the environmental impact of different livestock production systems. The primary data were collected from 32 animals aged 0-90 days. Calves were allowed to uptake colostrum before separation from their mothers within 24-h after birth. After separation, the animals were kept individually (1 x 2 m) for 8 weeks and then housed in groups of 8 in straw-bedded pens (5 x 8 m). According to the results of the analysis, the contributions from all calves to global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, non-renewable energy use was high. In particular, the impact generated from global warm potential was 7 kg CO2 – eq per day, and the impact of non-renewable energy use was 38 MJ – eq per day. Our results estimated for the first time the environmental impact generated from buffalo calves. We conclude that the strategies to mitigate the effects on the environment impact must start from the birth of the buffalo calves and then continue throughout its life cycle.