TROPO's Organic Info Library

Sustainable Organic Dairy Farming - can it be done?

Not far from Coraki on a bank of the Richmond river there is a 63 ha dairy farm owned by Dennis and Heather Attrill. It is distinctive in the area as the place surrounded by trees. One of their first moves after buying the property in 1988 was to exclude the cows from immediately around the house, spread newspaper and two semi-trailer loads of green bark from the Woodburn sawmill and plant trees. The trees and plants now form a well established screen though Dennis thinks that the bark resins initially retarded growth. Out of all the trees planted around the borders of the property the ones that did well are listed in the box.

The Inhabitants

Mostly Fresian cows with some Jerseys and Jersey Fresian crosses make up the 85 milkers. The Jersey-Fresian cross calf has an easier birth because it is smaller. Less productive Fresian cows bear Angus calves which are sold for meat. As well there are 60 replacement heifers and calves. My immediate impression while driving in and noticing their shiny coats and bright eyes, was their attractiveness - to a bull, though likely as not the lucky one would be a straw.

Production

Dennis is concerned that, in his attempts to be sustainable, his production is behind that of conventional farmers and there is no financial reward or recognition for being sustainable. "The government is talking about sustainability but then they take their advice from economists who recommend the maximum production in the short term. Economists know nothing of sustainability. Their aim is the cheapest possible price to the consumer.

Many factors have to be taken into account when measuring production. First is the management of the production cycle. After the cow calves, the lactation lasts 300 days. It takes 30 days to build up to peak production and by management this is held as long as possible. Ninety days after calving they again become pregnant and 210 days later they are dried off and given a 60 day holiday before calving again. At any one time Dennis has about 15 dry cows.

Second is the genetic improvement. Dennis is still building up the genetic quality of his cows starting from a run down farm.

Third is the efficiency of the "grass" to milk conversion. A big cow can eat more and produce more milk but when they are all together in the paddock this can't be measured. A Jersey is about a 10% more efficient harvester producing more protein and fats from the same amount of "grass" but less in volume than a Fresian. The state requirement is for 3.1% protein and 3.8% fat.

Fourthly increased production, may or may not be more profitable, depending on the expense of machinery, fertiliser food etc, involved in achieving it.

With all this in mind Dennis's cows produce about 300,000 litres per year or about 3800 litres per cow per lactation. For comparison the genetically improved cows of a "caring conventional farmer" (CCF) produce about 5000 litres per lactation and high producion cows can produce 7000 litres per lactation.

While on the subject of production all the cows in this area are finding this wet Autumn stressful and milk production is down. Boggy conditions lead to tender hooves and nowhere to lie down and sleep. Trying to solve the problem by providing dry feed lot type conditions leads to a breakout of mastitis from close proximity. When the sun does come out the cows just lie down and sleep. At the time of printing the rye grass paddocks were still too wet to let the cows in without them wrecking it.

The aforementioned CCF tried to solve the problem by giving his cows a specially selected bit of feed each day but to no avail. In despair he left all the gates open whereupon the cows headed for the ridge country where he didn't think the feed was as good (Wallaby Grass and a bit of Siratro) but the cows were happy and production picked up.

The Soil

Sustainable agriculture aims to maintain top soil, soil fertility and structure. Except for a strip of silty loam along the banks of the Richmond River the rest of the farm has a 1.2 metre layer of black soil under which is 0.3 metres of clay then 3.6 metres more of black soil, before reaching sand.

The first 2 years they were there were wet (1988/89) and a new raised road along one side of the farm blocked the natural drainage causing ponding over half the property putting considerable pressure on the other half. Eventually a culvert under the road and shallow grassed surface drains solved the problem. The paddocks were also deep ripped to 40cm to break a hard pan beneath the surface.

To reduce the amount of soil structural damage Dennis reduces the amount of time the cows spend in the paddocks by growing maize on a rented paddock and producing silage in bunkers. By excluding oxygen the dry maize stays fresh, smells good to eat and the corn kernels stay plump. Dennis made a tractor drawn machine with augers and conveyer belt to feed out the silage into covered, low troughs around the perimeter of a large concrete pad.

Conservation tillage dairy farmers are finding that as the humus builds up and the soil becomes more friable the cows hooves do more damage.

Couch grass has to be eliminated when preparing the ground for seed by ploughing when it is dry. Both the couch and the ground breaks down, given time.

Nutrient Cycle

The 13% of the cows daily dung output deposited around the dairy is loaded up, spread on the closely cropped Kikuyu paddocks on the silty river banks and harrowed in. The wash water from the dairy is also pumped onto the Kikuyu paddocks. The Kikuyu has the capacity at certain times of the year to rapidly take up nutrients from the manure. These paddocks are better able to withstand wet weather grazing pressure.

A biodynamic farmer, Dennis spreads preparations by Alex Podolinsky, although he is unsure of their efficacy over the past droughted years as they are supposed to need a moist environment in which to work.

Various nitrogen fixing cycles are used. The cows crop the lab-lab down in 3 rotations from which it recovers then rye grass seed is broadcast in the decaying Lab-lab mulch. The rye then carries them through the winter. Haifa clover and Soya beans (for Summer cover crop, grazing and round bale silage) also fix nitrogen. Incidentally the myth that cows don't get bloat from biodynamic pasture has been dispelled by Dennis who had a bad episode after the cows were in the clover. Drenching with paraffin oil and keeping the cows moving up and down the race for several hours while gas belched and farted out each end, saved all but his best cow. The rest of the clover was made into round bale silage.

The CCF says Siratro doesn't give cows bloat as they can't wolf it down like other legumes.

To produce enough silage for the year Dennis uses 3 tonne of a chemical N:P:k mix. Lime was used to bring the pH up from the original 4.6 to the current 5.6. They have a licence to irrigate 9 ha which they would like to expand. Small amounts of high protein supplements like peanut meal and cotton meal as well as dicalcium phosphate are added to the silage as it is fed out. When there is plenty of rye grass on the horizon the cows are gradually weaned off the silage over a week as different bacteria in the rumen have to build up to breakdown the rye. Their only pests are the buffalo fly, which also liked me, and the occassional drench for worms. Various dung beetles which are active at different times are used to reduce buffalo fly numbers.

For their milk to be sold as organic they would have to be certified organic and, at considerable expense, process the milk themselves. The Sandhurst Biodynamic farmers on the Murray get an 8 cents per litre premium which is attractive. Other dairy farmers would be horrified at such a move because it may reflect on the nice clean image of the lovely green paddocks surrounding dairies. Dennis doesn't know how long they can economically use sustainable practices.

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