Dairy

dairy Milking the environmental benefits of private investment

A £1.5 million project led by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) has found private investment in ecosystem services has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms.

The Resilient Dairy Landscapes project, funded by the Global Food Security programme, explored the trade-offs between farmers’ livelihoods, the natural environment and a stable supply of reasonably priced dairy products.

It evaluated the operation of Landscape Enterprise Networks (LENs) – which match private investors affected by landscape challenges with land managers – in Cumbria and East Anglia, as well as initiating the first networks in South West Scotland and supporting their extension into Europe.

The project found farmers in The Eden Valley, Cumbria, planted hedgerows four times faster under the privately funded Nestle-First Milk scheme than in public agri-environment schemes, suggesting that private sector investment may be needed to reach UK net-zero targets.

Farmers interviewed for the research said they preferred private investment via LENs, which offer a simplified evaluation process, to publicly funded agri-environment alternatives.

The project also sought to understand if the implementation of on-farm interventions under the Cumbrian scheme affected the prevalence and incidence of vector borne diseases in grazing cattle.

It found there was no impact from planting more hedgerows on vector-borne diseases such as summer mastitis.

Lead researcher Mark Reed, Professor of Rural Entrepreneurship at SRUC, said: “These findings are important because they show the important role hedgerow planting can play in meeting net zero targets, and how carbon finance can speed this process up and make hedgerow planting more attractive to farmers.

“Landscape Enterprise Networks are now a proven method for enabling companies to invest in the natural capital they depend upon, and the research shows that if designed well, privately funded schemes can be more attractive to farmers than publicly funded agrienvironment schemes, because they are more flexible.”

The project is being carried out in partnership with the universities of Newcastle, Leeds and Liverpool, and Nestle UK among others.

For more information visit: www.resilientdairylandscapes. com

Treat SOFTT cows ahead of spring calving to prevent ketosis

Spring calving dairy herds are being reminded to treat vulnerable cows ahead of calving, to avoid the development of ketosis and associated diseases.

Wesley Power, of Elanco Animal Health, emphasises the significant impact ketosis can have on cow health and production.

“The direct cost of ketosis on-farm can be up to £220 per case[i], with the cost rising even further as cows become more susceptible to other diseases, due to the weakening of their immune system,” he says.

Ketosis becomes especially apparent on-farm in the first month after calving, when a negative energy gap develops. The surge in energy required for late foetal development and birthing the calf, coupled with the onset of milk production, can be especially high risk for cows categorised as ‘SOFTT’.

“’SOFTT’ cows are those at greatest risk of developing ketosis and include Sick, Old, Fat, Thin and Twin bearing animals,” Dr Power explains.

By identifying the cows that fall into these categories, farmers, vets and nutritionists are able to work together to provide preventative treatments.

When teamed with careful diet management, the best way to avoid the onset of ketosis is to administer an intraruminal monensin bolus, three to four weeks before calving.

“When a monensin bolus is administered, glucose production within the cow is stimulated, delivering increased energy levels over a 95-day period. This treatment has been shown to reduce the development of ketosis by 74%[ii],” Dr Power adds.

One farmer who has reaped the benefits of improving dry cow and transition management is Ed Evans, of Bourne Farm in Monmouthshire.

Mr Evans and his family run a 195-head herd of Holstein-Friesian cows, supplying milk to Tesco and Arla.

Having tried to improve dry cow management with various nutritional changes for a number of years, the farm has seen the most significant improvement since installing three robotic milking systems and new housing infrastructure. This has encouraged the farm team to reconsider management protocols and has helped make a marked difference to milk yields.

“Our vet recommended that we join Premier Nutrition’s Transition Management System (TMS) to help pinpoint areas for improvement. The TMS assessor identified milk fever as a big