DairyNZ senior scientist Dawn Dalley has just returned from Europe, England and Ireland where she was surprised to discover research studies in the Netherlands aimed at getting cows out of barns for longer. She attended the International Farming Systems Association Conference in Germany, presenting two papers on the research she’s been leading on South Island wintering systems.
She said the reasons behind the Dutch research were primarily environmental and related to the impacts of storing large quantities of cow dung and urine as well as bedding materials.
“What they’re trying to do is improve grazing practice so farmers rely less on systems where all the effluent is captured in one place,” she said.
Commonly cows were turned out of their barns for periods over the spring and summer but most of their feed intake was still done on feedpads with cut-and-carry type systems. If they could use pasture better there would be less need for cows to be on feedpads and in barns and they’d spend more time in paddocks.
In many cases farmers had to remove slurry and bedding material right out of their own farming enterprise even if they were growing crops and had feed support land.
Removal was costing about €18/m3.
“Regulations around nutrient loading meant they just didn’t have enough land to put their stored manure and bedding out,” she said.
Having cows graze pasture more was viewed as creating less of an environmental problem.
Consumers also viewed systems where cows spent time outside grazing as more animal-friendly and retail milk companies used it to promote their products.
Dalley said in 2011 industry and research groups instigated studies into how to stop the decline in grazing. Waginingen University was involved in a number of programmes aimed at improving the level and quality of grazing including studies into better herbage utilisation, animal behaviour, drought resistance, labour, greenhouse gases and sustainable intensification.
“Ideally they want to get utilisation by cows in paddocks to a similar level as that achieved in a cut-and-carry system,” she said.
Automated fencing systems, where the fences automatically move along the paddock creating a long grazing face, were being investigated.
Dalley said she looked at a number of housed systems including large, open strawbed winter housing and a range of bedding types and cubicle designs in Holland and Germany as well as Ireland and England.
Housing options put under microscope
This year’s South Island Dairy Event (SIDE) is themed Riding the wave. It’s not only about enjoying the good times but staying ahead of the breaking water.
Nutrient management and cow wintering systems are at the forefront of many farmers’ minds as they work out how to be compliant with new environmental regulations and remain profitable.
A number of workshops at the Invercargill conference will focus on those issues including two from DairyNZ senior scientist Dawn Dalley. She’ll share insights from Farmax and Overseer modelling on real Southland farms that looks at a range of wintering and nutrient loss mitigation options and how they impact on profitability as well as nutrient loss savings.
At another workshop she’ll also be helping farmers work through a tool aimed at helping them determine the best wintering system.
Farmers can email questions for that workshop to Dalley before the event at dawn.dalley@dairynz.co.nz or side@lincoln.ac.nz.
All a-twitter
The Dairy Exporter will be at SIDE again this year and be interacting with conference goers through Twitter and social networking.
Follow @DairyExporterNZ, @Cantabannelee, @KT_at_Exporter and @millar_chelsea to keep up with workshop highlights and conference goings on.
#Teamdairy and #SIDE will keep you informed.
