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Rising costs, a need to address climate change and a recognition of the importance of livestock in arable rotations has shone the light on regenerative farming. But how can the practice be defined and what benefits might it deliver to a dairy farm? Cedric Porter reports.

Regenerating dairy profits

The first use of the term regenerative farming was in the early 1980s by the Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania, which established a Regenerative Agriculture Association.

At its heart was the regeneration of topsoil, increasing biodiversity, improving water management and becoming more resilient to climate change.

Ruminants are integral to many regenerative systems because of the need for grass in rotations and the fertilising properties they deliver.

In many cases, this has involved introducing sheep and beef cattle into the system, but dairy cattle certainly have a place.

Processor Arla has embarked on a four-year pilot project exploring regenerative techniques on dairy farms in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

It said: “Despite the growing momentum around regenerative agriculture, there is currently no regulatory or legal definition of what regenerative agriculture is.

“Furthermore, there are limited scientific examples of regenerative farming within the context of grass-based dairy farming systems in Europe.

“As a European dairy co-operative, owned by more than 9,000 farmers across seven countries, it is critical for Arla to gain a better understanding of how regenerative practices could be applied in dairy farming, and better understand how this approach could be adopted at scale across both organic and conventional dairy farming systems.”

Arla farmer Dan Burdett is driven by regenerative principles on his family’s 300-hectare (741-acre) Cockhaise Farm near Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

The farm is also an AHDB Strategic Dairy Farm and Mr Burdett has conducted a Nuffield Scholarship into regenerative farming, in which he says that while many farmers adopt regenerative techniques out of necessity because of land degradation, there is a real passion around the world for farming differently.

He says: “Regenerative agriculture is a broad-brush approach to farming. It is about looking at improving the health of soils, the lives of the people around the farm and the economics of the business.

Eco-system

“We want to create soil which is healthier and has a more vibrant eco-system in it. We want more resilience in the grazing system. The water that comes through the farm comes out a lot cleaner and we have a higher level of ecology with biodiversity.”

Mr Burdett is building on the organic system which was established on-farm by his father. Average yields are 6,000-6,500 litres, with 95% of cows calving within a six-week autumn window.

Financial benchmarking data prepared before the dramatic rises in feed and fertiliser prices over the last year shows much lower output per hectare than conventional

Cockhaise Farm economic performance before recent feed and fertiliser price rises

Key performance indicators Excellent Good Average Cockhaise

Cows and heifers calved within first six weeks >90% >80% <70% 95%

Herd replacement rate <20% 22% 26% 29%

Milk solids (kg/hectare) >1,500 1,250 1,100 468

Milk yield from forage (litres/cow) >5,000 4,000 2,750 3,182 Business performance measures

Full economic net margin (ppl) 7ppl 2ppl -3ppl 19.4ppl

Return on tenant’s capital (%) -20% 14% 3% 9%

Full economic costs of production (ppl) <24ppl 30ppl 34.5ppl 29.5ppl

Source: Cockhaise Farm and AHDB

Regen dairy projects

JFrom April 1, 2022, First Milk has paid a 0.5ppl Regenerative Farming Bonus for producers who have completed a Regenerative Farming Plan detailing current practices and planned changes to reduce carbon emissions. The system is backed up with a digital mapping tool developed by consultants Kingshay.

Yeo Valley has established a regenerative farming project for its 150 organic suppliers. It measures soil carbon using the Farm Carbon Toolkit and is carrying out research on the use of mob grazing, diverse cropping, composting, agroforestry and the capture of carbon in the soil using biochar charcoal.

Danone says it is developing regenerative models for its 58,000 global farmers. This includes supporting national initiatives such as Ireland’s Origin Green, support for global organisation Sustainable Dairy Partnership and online seminars.

Raw milk supplier Stroud Micro Dairy cites regenerative agriculture as one of its guiding principles.

Approach

It says: “We take a regenerative approach to farming, which means we promote plant and soil health through biodiversity and the balance of natural systems.”

It keeps calves with mothers for two months after birth with a further month where they continue to interact.

Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s has launched a ‘Mootopia’ project, which involves 15 farms in the USA and Netherlands with an aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a half by the end of 2024.

The Unilever-owned company is focusing on changing diets, managing manure better and using regenerative min-till systems to reduce the impact of forage and cereal crops used to feed cows.

Arla is carrying out a four-year pilot project to gain a better understanding of how regenerative practices could be applied in dairy farming.

systems because of the size of the farm and smaller yields.

However, lower costs and milk premiums mean a much higher economic net margin than other dairy farms at 19.4ppl. Costs of production are similar to other farms, but Mr Burdett says his system is much less exposed to the increase in feed, fertiliser and fuel costs seen over the last year.

Integrating dairy production and other livestock into a regenerative farming system was a feature at the recent Groundswell and Down to Earth events.

At Groundswell, US forage expert Seth Itzkan argued that grasslands have been one of the reasons why life on earth has been able to thrive over millions of years.

He said: “We did not become ‘ice house earth’ like Mars or ‘hot house earth’ like Venus, because we have grasslands which are able to act like a thermostat, keeping global temperatures steady and regulating carbon ows between the atmosphere and soil.”

He argued that the world needs more grassland-based livestock rather than less.

Ian Bailey from consultants Triage says there is the potential for a 75% reduction in the use of nitrogen fertiliser in a regenerative livestock grazing system, which could sequestrate between eight and 18 tonnes of carbon a year. at could be worth £160-£180/ha (£65-£73/acre) when the sequestrated carbon is traded. Aside from input savings, Sustainable Farming Initiative soil payments of at least £40/ha (£16/ acre) would also be available to English regenerative dairy farmers.

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Selling milk direct to the public is becoming an increasingly popular way for dairy farms to add value to their milk and other dairy products.

Milk sold in this way can either be pasteurised or sold raw, with batch pasteurising a method used to achieve the former which can be done on-farm with the right piece of kit.

Bruce Dalby, director of Batch Pasteuriser, a company which makes, retails and distributes batch pasteurisers to customers around the UK, is passionate about the bene ts batch pasteurising milk to sell direct can bring to dairy farms and their margins.

He says: “Batch pasteurising is a process which heats milk in a vessel rather than a continues ow which is what the supermarkets use. e process produces non-homogenised pasteurised milk – the way milk used to be supplied when it was delivered to doorsteps.

“What di erentiates the process from mainstream methods is that the milk is heated very gently by hot water in a jacket around the milk at 63degC for 30 minutes.

“While this is not feasible on in large-scale production, it works well for individual farms.” is milk can then be marketed direct to the consumer, either in liquid form or in products such as yogurt, cheese, ke r and so on and retailed via various methods.

Vending machines in particular appear to have seen a particular boost in popularity recently – a concept which sees customers bring their own bo les or use those provided by the farm at a cost.

Money is then paid into the vending machine which then lls up their bo le with milk. ere is also the opportunity to add value further by o ering avoured milk options, an addition many selling milk direct have opted for.

In terms of set-up cost, Mr Dalby explains that his pasteurisers start from £10,000 and range up to £17,000 depending on size.

He says: “A 150-litre capacity Batch pasteurising on-farm is becoming a popular method for those wishing to sell their milk direct to the public, but what are some key things to consider before taking this route? Hannah Park reports.

Batch pasteurising grows in popularity

pasteuriser will retail for just over £10,000 and we would expect that machine to pay for itself within three months.

“We have manufactured pasteurisers with up to a 1,000 litre capacity and we now have more than 100 of our pasteurisers in use in the UK.”

According to Mr Dalby, customers purchasing batch pasteurised milk at the moment are happy to pay, on average in the UK, about £1.50/£1.60 per litre for the product.

Selling raw milk is another way milk can be sold direct, but this has a di erent set of requirements.

A 150 litre capacity pasteuriser will retail for just over £10,000, says Bruce Dalby.

Regulations to consider

JThe farm’s milk buyer and local health officials need to be informed before even considering this route to market.

This is the advice from Gemma Smale-Rowland, who set up one of the first vending machine direct selling business to sell milk direct from their 120-cow Holstein herd in 2019 – Cornish Moo.

Ms Smale-Rowland says: “Two phone calls I would say are essential before you even consider [selling milk direct] is one to your milk processor to see if they will allow it and then one to your local food standards agency to get their input.

“Some milk buyers might have restrictions in place, while your local food standards office will be able to talk to you about what inspections need to be carried out, whether you can sell milk raw in your area or whether it is required to be pasteurised – rules and regulations will vary between regions.”

Location

Another important consideration Ms Smale-Rowland highlights is location.

“Location is key and I would say I am way too rural. Those vending machines situated on the side of a main road or route will do best out the direct milk selling route.”

Alongside the initial set-up cost, Ms Smale-Rowland also stresses the time involved thereafter to keep machines well-stocked.

She says: “For us and I think most others who do it would say the time, it is an extremely time-consuming thing to do.

“There are businesses that have put them in but have since taken them out for that reason.”

The boom in popularity of direct selling milk does however mean there is more availability of information and equipment do to so.

Ms Smale-Rowland explains she imported her pasteuriser in from overseas at the time it was installed in contrast to now where several UK-based production companies have been established alongside advice forums for those interested in going down this route.