By Andrew Kempson, General Manager Sustainability
For many, reducing on farm emissions is down the list of priorities. Farmers may argue you can't be "in the green if your books are in the red". But let's reframe the argument. We all have the potential on farm to be reducing emissions right now. It all comes down to being very efficient, productive farmers, which is also what you want to be doing in a profit squeeze.
What underpins profitability on farm?
Milk, animals and the environment. These are the three essential elements that, combined, support on farm profitability, sustainability and productivity. Lowering emissions are essentially a by-product of just being efficient and productive.
A big part of this is animal wellbeing. Fundamentally, a healthy animal is a productive animal.
Nutrition
The amount of methane produced is broadly dependent on the weight of dry matter consumed. This means cows consuming poor quality feed will produce more methane to get the same amount of energy (and milk). Improving the quality of pasture or supplementary feed, or balancing nutrition to improve feed conversion, will reduce the amount of methane produced per kgMS produced.
Breeding
A replacement animal is consuming feed and creating emissions, but not necessarily making any milk at this point. This is why it's key to ensure the animals you are breeding will live long, healthy and productive lives and you're maximising your genetic opportunity each year.
Ensuring you're breeding the best replacement animals from your best cows means you also minimise the number of non-productive animals on your farm.
Milk Quality
Identify opportunities to minimise mastitis and somatic cell counts. If you're looking after somatic cell count and your mastitis, you've got an opportunity to have a healthier, more productive cow while using the same amount of feed.
Your local Farm Source team can also support here, with our milk quality experts geared to support with any issues but also help optimise your milking. Reach out to your local team to find out more.
ZincCheck
For those impacted by facial eczema Fonterra's ZincCheck service is a great tool to monitor your herds protection level at minimal cost and reduce the chance of the long-term animal health and milk production impacts. ZincCheck is available through the summer months.
Animal Wellbeing Plans
Creating (or updating) your Animal Wellbeing Plan with your vet is a good chance to discuss your wider animal efficiency and plan your approach for the coming seasons.
Targeted support
Every farm is unique and has different requirements to optimise efficiency, and farmers are best placed to know what their farm needs.
We are here to add value and support farmers behind the farm gate - from product knowledge and recommendations through our local store teams, to farm-grown feed planning with our Technical Sales Reps and benchmarked insights from your Farm Insights Report.
But we can't tell from a distance what your farm is struggling with, and there is no one size fits all approach. If you need support in any area of your farming business, reach out to your local Farm Source team.
Ultimately, we're not wanting to add a new cost or complexity to farming businesses. Lowering emissions are essentially a by-product of just being efficient and ensuring your cows are healthy and productive.