NEWS
Pasture-based dairy : what is possible ?
Craig Galloway
Current Address : Trace & Save E-mail Address : craig @ traceandsave . com Reprinted From : https :// bit . ly / 34083oj
Many dairy farmers in South Africa are very progressive . In my experience , farmers have done well to push for greater efficiency in their systems . It could leave some people asking , is there still room for much more improvement ? My answer , absolutely !
The Challenge of sustainability
Sustainability is not something that can be achieved and then you sit back . It is a constant pursuit of ensuring long-term profitability , reducing environmental impact and being socially responsible . It is an ever-evolving goal .
I am looking at the question of what is possible in the future for pasture-based dairy farms through the lens of sustainability . Most importantly , for this article , I want to focus on the influence that reduced input costs have on long-term resilience . Reduced input costs mean a farmer is less subject to availability and cost of feed , fertiliser , electricity , and fuel . Not only do reduced inputs lead to resilience , but also reduced environmental impacts . The production of these inputs has associated greenhouse gas emissions , as do the use of fertiliser and fuel .
Reduced inputs sound great , but I am sure the question you are all asking is , what about production ? Well , that is a good question .
Optimising Production
One of the points I always like to emphasise about sustainability is that it is about optimising production , not maximising it . The problem with optimising is that it differs between contexts , and therefore from farm to farm . There is no one formula for figuring out how to optimise production with any given set of inputs . This is something each farmer must figure out for themselves .
That said , what we can do is look at some of the principles which assist in the optimisation of production . The main ones I will focus on in this article are :
• Improving soil health – healthier soil supports more abundant and better-quality pasture growth , with lower fertiliser inputs .
• Improving pasture quality – improved pasture quality supports higher milk production , and a higher percentage of pasture in the total diet , i . e . better-quality pasture leads to a smaller need for concentrates .
• Decreasing heifer replacement rates – a decrease in the number of heifers required to replace culled cows each year results in a need to rear less heifers , where an emphasis can be placed on optimally rearing only the best heifers .
Levers
There are many factors on a farm which farmers have no control over . This in-
Figure 1 : Dairy cattle grazing on pasture .
31 Grassroots Vol 20 No 4 December 2020