Sustainable Farming Case Study Series: Christine Utting

Case Farm Background

The case farm is a 200ha dairy property in the South Otago region of New Zealand. The farm milks a herd of 600 predominantly Friesian cows on a pasture based spring block calving system. All youngstock (200 replacements per year) are grazed off farm until the age of 2 years old when they return to the farm to calve down as heifers. All adult cattle are wintered on the farm on 20ha of fodder beet with bought-in straw and baleage. In order to meet feed demands of the herd the farm applies the maximum permitted quantity of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser (190kgN/ha/yr) (1) to their permanent ryegrass pasture and also buys in palm kernel expeller (PKE) which is fed to the herd at 2kg/c/d in portable feed troughs in the paddocks.

Key Sustainability Issues

When considered under a 3E framework, the key sustainability issues this farm faces are as follows:

Environment

High stocking rate: The stocking rate of 600 cows on 180ha effective milking platform is 3.33cows/ha, which is high for the South Otago area. This puts pressure on feed particularly during wet periods such as spring and dry periods such as late summer. Supplement (PKE) is bought in to fill feed deficits, which is damaging to paddocks as it is fed in portable troughs due to a lack of in-shed feeding infrastructure.

High use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser: This is damaging to waterways through nutrient run-off/leaching, and has a high environmental cost of application, either via helicopter or truck/tractor.

Intensive winter grazing on fodder beet: This practice is highly damaging to the topsoil and degrades the overall soil structure. Fodder beet also requires a lot of specialist fertilisers and chemical sprays applied over the growing season in order to achieve decent yields, which can damage waterways if washed off and will kill insect life

Ethics

Poor herd performance: The dairy herd performs poorly in terms of reproduction, with a below average 6-week in-calf rate (62%), a long mating period (12 weeks) and a high not-in-calf rate (22%). They also experience a high mortality rate (5%) plus high rates of endemic diseases such as lameness and mastitis, which they are unable to effectively tackle through appropriate culling due to the high not-in-calf rate. As a result, they have to have a high replacement rate (33%) of new heifers.

Use of PKE: PKE is a byproduct of the palm oil industry, which causes extensive deforestation and damage to local communities in South-East Asia. Although a lot of PKE supplied to dairy farms is sourced from companies that are committed to providing sustainable palm oil (2), there are still high environmental costs from transporting PKE and feeding it out.

Wintering on fodder beet: Intensive winter grazing has some definite animal welfare concerns if poorly managed, such as animals having to struggle through thick deep mud and having inadequate clean and dry lying areas. There are also significant health risks from fodder beet if cows are not properly transitioned on to it such as outbreaks of acute or sub-acute rumenal acidosis and even death (3).

Staff burnout: The farm employs two full time staff members as well as the farm owner and his wife (who does the calf rearing in spring). They all frequently work 65+hrs per week and as a result burnout is a big problem.

Economics

High input system: The farm operates on a production system 3-4 based on DairyNZ’s definitions (4), which is a high input system with high costs of feed, fertiliser and machinery. Debt is high and interest rates are rising. Operational costs are very close to or even above the break-even milk price.

Poor herd performance: The poor reproductive performance of the herd means the farm is spending a lot of money each mating season on hormonal interventions for non-cycling cows, as well as high costs of antibiotic treatments for the chronic mastitis problem.

Farmer Goals for the Future:

The farmer is fed up with running his farm in such a high input system with minimal or no profit at the end of each season. He would like to make his business more ‘sustainable’ in terms of lowering his input costs, improving animal and staff health and welfare and maximising his profit margin.

Over the next few years he would like to move to a fully pasture based farming system (DairyNZ system 1) with all supplements fed being only those that have been grown on farm. He would also like to reduce his synthetic nitrogen fertiliser usage and transition away from intensive winter grazing practices. Ultimately he would like his farm to become a fully self-contained unit including all youngstock and to become a more biodiverse property that is attractive to native birds and wildlife as well.
The farmer is aware that this will be a huge adjustment to his current farming practices, but he is determined to make some changes for the benefit of his animals, his staff and his land.

Sustainability Solutions/Plan

The farm team, in conjunction with myself as veterinary advisor and other key rural professionals (farm consultant, breeding company, seed and fertiliser reps) have met to discuss options for the future. We have created a four-point plan of solutions for this farm.

Decrease stocking rate to 2.5cows/ha:

This will have many extremely positive effects for this farm. Firstly, the big reduction in overall feed demand will allow the farmer to significantly reduce the quantity of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser applied annually. In addition, the need for PKE supplement will be removed as well as the remaining cows will be able to have their nutritional demands met through pasture alone. A lower stocking rate should have positive benefits for cow body condition, which will very likely lead to improvements in reproductive performance. With a higher 6-week in-calf-rate and a lower not-in-calf rate (likely achieved over a period of several seasons), the farm will be able to shorten their mating period, reduce (and eventually hopefully eliminate) use of non-cycling cow interventions and have a good cull out of chronically affected lame and mastitic/high SCC cows, low producers and any other cows that do not fit the farm system.

Build a wintering barn:

This will remove the need for intensive winter grazing practices, which then allows the 20ha of land that was planted in winter crop each year to be used to grow more pasture for supplement and also to graze youngstock.

Use of individual animal data:

Rumination collars are to be applied to every cow in the milking herd. This will give real-time data on animal health, allowing faster detection and then treatment of disease as well as aiding heat detection at mating time. This data can be linked with herd test results to identify trends in milk production and somatic cell counts to aid targeted culling of poor performers. In addition, the installation of a rapid mastitis testing machine on farm will allow more accurate treatment decisions to guide appropriate antibiotic usage.

Land management plan:

Adopting a mixture of land sharing and land sparing approaches, several
solutions can be implemented:
a. Fence off and retire all marginal land/wet spots. These can
be linked to create wetland areas and encourage native biodiversity.
b. Riparian planting along established farm waterways. The
farmer is keen to involve children from the local primary school with this
so they can learn about the importance of protecting waterways and
animal habitats.
c. Tree planting along paddock boundaries with a wide diversity of plant
species. This will create a wild animal habitat as well as provide shade
for the dairy herd during hot weather and shelter during bad weather.
d. Planting mixed swards of pasture species in paddocks that are due for
renewal, incorporating species such as plantain and chicory which can
help reduce nitrogen leaching (5).
e. Trapping for invasive predator control, particularly possums, stoats and
rats. Funding is available for this through the Predator Free Trust NZ
(6).

None of these changes will take place overnight, but over a period of several years (and some even further in the future). In particular, it is important that the drop in stock numbers happens slowly so as not to create a huge drop in income from milk. A gradual reduction in numbers of replacements kept and increase in cows culled for reasons other than being empty is sensible, as well as a change in the genetic direction of the herd by using Jersey and crossbred semen at mating time to develop
a herd that is a bit smaller and more compact than the current Friesian herd. This will lower the impact the stock has on the land whilst achieving higher feed conversion efficiencies. The wintering barn will probably be a medium term goal, as it will involve a high capital cost to be installed. In the meantime, the farmer could plant a brassica crop like kale or swedes instead of fodder beet for winter feeding. Brassica crops have lower yields therefore a wider area is required each day, which decreases the impact
on the soil from pugging slightly.

Farm Team Support

These suggested changes are very significant ones which will have a big impact on the current ways in which the farm operates. As such, there will need to be some clear support for the whole farm team so that everyone is on board and the transition is a successful one.
When considering the COM-B model of behavioural change, there will be some shifts in mindset required by all team members on the farm. As this is a collaborative effort with all team members involved in the discussions and planning, it has been clear that motivation is high, with all team members keen to “work smarter, not harder”. They would like to reduce the number of hours worked per week so they can spend more time with their families and getting involved in off-farm activities. In terms of capability and opportunity, there will be some gaps in their skills and
strengths, particularly around the suggested increased use of technology.
Rumination collars provide a huge level of data but a farm will only gain maximum benefit from them by really engaging with it. As a result, we will run a training session for the whole team covering how to interpret the data (such as sick cow alerts) and what to do next, followed up with decision tree posters for the cow shed walls as a memory aid. In addition, I have recommended that the team comes along to the vet-run rumination technology discussion group that the vet clinic organises every 6-8 weeks, to allow the team to share and learn from other farm users too. Similarly,
we will run a training session on how to use the rapid mastitis testing machine to aid better management of clinical mastitis cases and regularly check in whenever we are on farm to make sure it is still being used optimally. We will aim to review this sustainability plan annually with all key stakeholders to make sure it is tracking as desired and to adjust as required pending new ideas, methods or technologies as they arise.

Veterinary Role During The Transition

This farmer is bravely embarking on a significant change to his current business model and thankfully he recognises that he needs the guidance and support from as many trusted professionals as possible. He already has a good relationship with me and the veterinary clinic, established over many years by being assigned one vet as his main point of contact. Three times a year we sit down to review the season in terms of animal health, performance and drug usage (with specific focuses on spring and mating in October and mastitis in April, plus a general overview in the winter), as
well as frequent vet visits throughout the year for routine and emergency work. Farm animal vets are in a very unique position in being able to be on farms so regularly throughout the season, seeing how operations run day-to-day and getting to know the whole farm team. This allows us to gain a really good understanding of a farm, the family and team behind it and the business too, leaving us uniquely placed to help guide and shape changes whether big or small. It is important that all businesses are taking steps towards sustainability, particularly those that are advising on such changes for their clients, leading by example and sharing learnings along the way. As such, the veterinary clinic is also embarking on a journey to improve its carbon footprint and impact on the environment. This has
started with a carbon audit of the whole business to identify target areas, a transition to hybrid electric vehicles for all farm vets (fully electric ones were considered but deemed impractical due to the remoteness of many of the clinic’s farm clients), engaging with wholesalers to reduce plastic packaging of as many products as possible and to increase uptake of recycling initiatives (such as transforming used teat sealant tubes in to fence posts), plus the whole clinic team taking part in community tree planting and predator trapping events. They are keen to help this farmer when the time comes too.

Summary

Overall, this case presents a new challenge for the farm, the farm team and the veterinary team. The current sustainability issues are wide ranging and significant, but by working together and implementing some changes there will be very positive benefits for the land, the stock, the native biodiversity and the people. If all farms took steps to shift their focus away from purely “more” and instead aimed to maximise profit margins and animal, staff and land health and welfare, we will be well on our way towards achieving ‘sustainability’ in agriculture.

References
1. https://environment.govt.nz/ac...uidance/agriculture-and-horticulture/synthetic-nitrogen-fertiliser-cap-in-place-fr
om-1-july/
2. https://www.fonterra.com/nz/en...m-products-sourcing-standard.html
3. https://www.dairynz.co.nz/feed...
4. https://www.dairynz.co.nz/busi...
5. https://www.dairynz.co.nz/feed...
6. https://predatorfreenz.org/too...