12. What we do know is
less than 7%
of Australia
is suitable
for food production
Source: www.dfat.gov.au/facts/env_glance
Image: www.waste2energynow.com
13. And the
farmers
producing this
food are finding
the resources to
do so increasingly
scarcer
&
more
expensive.
14. So what are Australian dairy
farmers doing about this
Image : www.eecs.oregonstate.edu
15. LETS FIND OUT WHAT THE
SMART COWS ARE DOING
We are doing
what every-one
else on the planet
should be doing.
We are using less
resources and
using them
smarter .
25. 1. BREEDING
Okay so we select
for cows who can
turn feed into milk
as efficiently as
possible.
26. Feed Conversion Efficiency (FCE)
So what is FCE?
Simplest way to put it is most cows eat about 20kg DM* per
day.
So if she can turn 20kgs of feed into:
• 20 litres of milk - she has an FCE of 1
• 40litres of milk - she has an FCE of 2
So the higher the FCE the more efficient she is
*DM = dry matter i.e. feed with water taken out
27. 2. Feeding
Feed me the best quality,
energy rich feed you can
grow & buy.
Trust me I’m worth it and
I am good for the
environment too.
28. Grow them big and tall
• By feeding your cows to grow big
and tall and enter the milking
herd at two years old you can
reduce their non productive life as
a green house gas emitter.
Sounds very
efficient indeed!!!
Lets look at why?
29. 2 small cows vs. 1 BIG COW
So lets look at the maths
• Just like you and me a cow uses some of
the food she eats to turn into energy for
maintenance ( i.e. walking, breathing,
growing etc)
• 1 small cow will use 70 to 80 MJ ( Mega
Joules*) just for maintenance
• 1 big cow will use 100 MJ for maintenance
* Joule = measurement of energy
30. But wait there is more
If 1 small cow only has the capacity to
produce 5000 litres per year and the big cow
can produce 10000 litres per year that
means the big cow uses 60% less energy for
maintenance than 2 little cows to produce
the same amount of milk.
Bit confused ?
Have a look at the
pictures on the next
page.
31. 2 SMALL COWS VS. 1 BIG COW
60% MORE ENERGY NEEDED for MAINTENANCE to
PRODUCE SAME AMOUNT OF MILK
1 x 100MJ = 100MJ = 10000 litres
2 x 80MJ = 160MJ = 10000 litres
32. SO BIG IS BEAUTIFUL -
FEEDING COWS WELL CAN REDCUE
METHANE EMMISIONS BY 30%
www.climatechange.gov.au/en/climate-change/emissions.aspx
33. 3. ANIMAL MANAGEMENT
• Milking 3 x daily increases milk production
by up to 25%
• This means dairy farmers can milk less
cows who produce MORE milk on the
same amount of land
• This means less Green House Gas
emissions per unit of production
34. Less
Green House Gases???
• It is well known by breeding cows with
high FCE and milking them 3x daily dairy
farmers can reduce Green House Gas
Emissions by up to 30%
WOW
Now that’s
smart!!
35. Lets look at some
other on farm less
is
MORE
strategies
36. MORE
SMART STRATEGIES
1.Fertiliser Management.
2.Fertiliser Formulation.
3.Pasture and Soil Management.
39. Laughing Gas – not so funny
• Nitrous oxide also known as laughing gas
or happy gas is a major greenhouse gas
and air pollutant.
• Over a 100 year period, it has 298 times
more impact per unit weight than carbon
dioxide.
• Nitrous oxide escapes into the air when
nitrogen fertiliser is used.
40. Fertiliser – the aim of the
game…
is to keep the nutrients on the pasture and
out of the airways and waterways.
• So its very important to:
measure what goes in and what goes out and
only apply what you need, where you need it and not
when rain is going to bucket down.
Remember Uncle Steve’s Rule
“If you cant measure it,
you cant manage it”
41. 2. Fertiliser Formulations
• Like all things driven by need, fertilisers
are being developed with protective
coatings to reduce the amount of Nitrous
Oxide escaping in the atmosphere.
Fertiliser isn't
the only bad guy.
Did you walk to work
today?
42. 3. Pasture & Soil Management
• The key is to grow as, much pasture as you can and
this allows a high stocking rate i.e. more cows/ha.
• One of the greatest on-farm challenges is the
inefficiencies from wasting grass – a high stocking
rate utilises the grass when it is available.
• Using water and nutrient efficient grasses means
less fertiliser use and more pasture grown on the
moisture shoulders.
• Grow drought tolerant species with potential for
rapid recovery after drought.
43. FOOD MILES ????
• The dairy industry only uses grains
and by-products not fit for human
consumption.
• And yes the grain truck may travel 300km but
we are actually minimising GHGE as we are
producing milk close to where it is consumed.
• After all the milk truck leaves the farm
everyday but the grain truck only comes every
6-8 weeks.
44.
45. SO HOW CLEVER IS THE DAIRY
INDUSTRY??
THE COWS ARE GETTING BIGGER,
PRODUCING MORE MILK FROM
LESS OF THEM
AND THE FOOTSTEPS
ARE
GETTING SMALLER?
46. Cows are part of the solution
• If there is a problem it is not the cow, but
the way we manage the farm system and
its carbon cycle.
• Dairy farmers have the responsibility to be
good stewards of the land and livestock for
the benefit of the land, the livestock, the
community, and themselves.
47. So don’t
sweat the
small stuff.
The time is
NOW to get
SMART
48. CLIMATE CHANGE
OR NOT !!!
We have more people to feed,
& more people to house,
50. Acknowledgements
• This is a CoolCows production by
Ellie Lindsay for the Cream of the Crop
Competition
• Ellie would like to acknowledge
– the genii behind the great pictures gleaned
from the web for this PowerPoint.
– Dr Richard Eckard Uni of Melbourne - Dairy
Greenhouse Gas Abatement Guru
www.greenhouse.unimelb.edu.au
