Dairy

dairy Dairy farmers urged to get ahead of the curve on carbon

Dairy farmers have been urged to “get ahead of the curve” when it comes to implementing technical efficiency measures to help reduce their carbon footprint, instead of waiting for policy to catch up.

This was one of the takehome messages delivered to around 70 farmers who attended an open-farm dairy day organised by SAC Consulting, part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), in Wigtownshire. The ‘Chewing the Cud About Dairy Cows and Carbon’ event centred around equipping farmers with knowledge and tools to practically implement on their farm, which would help reduce emissions and drive overall productivity.

During visits to different workshops over the course of the day, farmers heard from a range of experts offering advice on improving soil health and nutrient management planning, to calf rearing, feed efficiency and renewables opportunities.

The workshops took place on the host farm Culscadden, where Peter and Sarah Simpson have built up their milking herd to 1,000 cows, breeding all their own replacements and selling 750 Angus beef cross calves to Marks and Spencer, annually.

“Climate change is massively important to us as a society and to us as farmers who are going to have to farm in the new environment and we have a role to play in reducing our emissions and being part of the solution, both in terms of sequestration and reducing our own emissions,” said Sarah.

“The dairy sector not only produces milk, but we produce