13C analysis of cow tail hair and farm slurry can be used to implicitly distinguish between different dairy production systems

Ecological Processes

Table 1 Characterization of the production systems of the farms in the study. Data obtained during on-farm survey

ID	Soil landscape	Agricultural area [ha]	Grassland [%]	Maize land [%]	Milking cows	Milk yield (ECM) per cow [kg]	Feeding regime	Maize [% DM]	Grass [% DM]	Concentrates [% DM]
A	Geest	145	49	41	103	9922	All-year housing	30	37	33
B	Peatland	145	75	25	138	10,521	All-year housing	27	40	33
C	Geest	96	65	32	122	10,365	Summer grazing with maize	11	51	38
D	Marshland	63	100	0	98	9520	Summer grazing with maize	14	51	35
E	Peatland	224	100	0	133	5280	Summer grazing without maize	0	85	15
F	Peatland	182	96	4	199	7911	Summer grazing with maize	19	43	38
G	Geest	241	56	41	326	9834	Summer grazing with maize	30	37	33
H	Geest	158	48	38	241	9840	Summer grazing with maize	41	27	33
I	Geest	201	56	34	201	8625	All-year housing	27	49	24
J	Geest	244	77	23	222	8749	Summer grazing with maize	30	37	33
K	Geest	313	75	25	523	8286	Summer grazing with maize	24	44	32
L	Peatland	103	92	8	202	8219	Summer grazing with maize	16	38	46
M	Marshland	76	100	0	72	10,061	Summer grazing without maize	0	60	40
N	Marshland	168	94	3	148	8878	Summer grazing with maize	15	42	43
O	Peatland	102	92	6	94	6146	Summer grazing with maize	14	50	36
P	Geest	242	37	53	374	9068	All-year housing	46	24	30
Q	Geest	48	72	19	71	9621	Summer grazing with maize	17	41	43