Soil health key component of farm economics
Future farm systems can achieve environmental and economic sustainability, but there are no quick-fix solutions for reaching that goal, a DairyNZ scientist says.
Getting there would require a balance between environmental and productiondriven goals, DairyNZ senior scientist Pierre Beukes told scientists and farmers at the New Zealand Society of Animal Production Conference in Hamilton.
Farmers would have to build strong system fundamentals based around soil health, nutrients and cows to withstand the future challenge of farming within limits.
Modelling by DairyNZ scientists showed a 20 per cent reduction in nitrogen leaching on a typical Waikato farm when these fundamentals were strong, he said.
Scientists and farmers had to be mindful about soil health when thinking about future farming systems.
‘‘A healthy soil can fix a large amount of nitrogen through fixation. We can get away with less nitrogen and if we need to apply nitrogen we can do so with precision.’’
The resulting lower pasture covers would be balanced by switching to a lower stocking rate consisting of cows with a higher breeding worth.
It would also cut the amount of nitrogen lost through cow urine, he said.
When these cows were fed to their optimum production, it would ensure the the bulk of their energy went into milk production rather than maintenance.
Keeping cows in the herd longer would also lower their environmental impact. It meant fewer young stock to rear and made economic sense, Beukes said.
New systems would need to be resilient to protect farmers from uncertainty and unexpected events. The best financial buffers were low debt and low cost of production, he said.
‘‘You need to build slack in your system whether it is feed, cow condition, pasture covers or financial buffers.’’
There was no quick fix to create these systems and it would take a mix of actions to protect the environment and still meet production goals, Beukes said.
‘‘We can get there. It’s possible and there will have to be compromises, but we need to keep in mind the foundations and fundamentals – soil health, getting the best out of each cow and farming with buffers in the system.’’
Future farm systems could be stocked with high breeding value cattle, similar to these cows on DairyNZ’s Scott Farm.