DSF Webinars – Sustainability in action on dairy farms

At our April webinar, we heard from farmers in New Zealand and Australia, both enthusiastic to share how they were putting sustainability into practice on their farms. Our thanks to our colleagues from DairyNZ and Dairy Australia, who connected us with our farmer presenters.

Cameron (Cam) Henderson, his wife and farm team milk 750 crossbred cows near Oxford, North Canterbury, on New Zealand’s South Island. Cam took on the farm 14 years ago and converted it to dairy from the sheep farm it was previously and leases a further 250 ha for dairy grazing and row cropping winter feed for the herd (e.g kale, fodder beet and more recently round bale silage grazed in the field). The Canterbury region is known for its light sedimentary soils and low rainfall. A passionate advocate for sustainable agriculture, Cam spoke about how water and nutrient retention is being achieved through changing winter grazing choices, utilising plantain within grassland swards and alternative land use. Alternative land use initiatives include solar - which produces power for both dairy and irrigation pumps, and plantings of pine and native trees for animal shelter and biodiversity. Irrigation efficiency has been improved through the use of trailed drip line irrigation and managed through close monitoring of soil moisture. Increased soil sampling, the use of precision nutrient application and fertigation has enabled a reduction in purchased fertilisers use whilst maintaining pasture yields. Through use of a tool from Overseer, the farm has been able to see the impact their actions are having on groundwater across the farm and catchment. The combination of actions implemented, have helped to improve water quality for surrounding catchments, conserve and reduce water use by about 20% and maintain soil nutrients.

James McRae from Barrington, New South Wales, Australia is a 5th generation dairy farmer. Farming in a 50:50 partnership with his father Chris on “Raelands”; the farm that has been in their family since the 1860’s. James is a keen proponent of Lean management and goal setting using Triple Bottom Line principles (Planet, Profit, People) with all key investments and major decisions being based around these three principles. Also passionate about sustainability, James has implemented practices such as intensive grazing management, genomic herd testing, sexed semen use, solar power, effective re-use of dairy effluent & emissions monitoring. These initiatives are reducing their GHG emissions and run alongside their efforts to improve biodiversity on the farm, with creation of conservation zones with new and strategic tree planting and biodiversity stewardship work enabling the generation of potential saleable biodiversity credits.

The number of questions that followed the presentations were a reflection of how valuable the DSF membership found the content that was delivered by these farmers. A recording of the webinar is available on the DSF Members Area if you would like to catch up or even relive the key messages shared by these progressive farmers!

Don’t miss our next Sustainability in action on dairy farms webinar – in Africa on June 26th (register here) when we will hear from dairy farmers in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Europe (date TBC) and Latin America (11 November) will follow later in the year. The DSF looks forward to welcoming you to the Africa webinar this month. Don’t forget to register!