Greener Pastures : A profitable and sustainable use of Nitrogen in Dairy pasture systems
Profitable and sustainable use of Nitrogen in Dairy Pasture Systems
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Project Overview
Greener Pastures is a five year intensive farming systems project that will help farmers make smarter use of nutrients, especially nitrogen.
As farmers strive to remain profitable, they generally farm more intensively. More cows are milked, fertiliser use increases and more feed may be purchased.
A key industry strategy to increase pasture production is the use of nitrogen fertiliser. Nitrogen use on WA dairy farms has increased sixfold between 1990 and 2003 but it appears that much of this extra nitrogen is not being turned into milk.
Greenerpastures aims to clearly define the milk production response to nitrogen fertiliser in a pasture system and to demonstrate practical ways to use nitrogen more profitably
Recent research elsewhere in Australia and overseas has shown that much of the nitrogen lost from grazing systems comes from urine patches, rather than from nitrogen fertiliser. Using more nitrogen fertiliser can support higher stocking rates but leads to grass with a higher nitrogen content. This increases the amount of urine nitrogen deposited in paddocks that, in turn, dramatically increases the potential for nitrogen loss off the farm.
Greener pastures will improve local understanding of the rate and pathways by which nitrogen is lost from intensively grazed pasture systems. The object is to provide practical management strategies to deliver higher nitrogen use efficiency and profitability while reducing losses to the surrounding environment.
Increasing the effectiveness of nitrogen use represents a clear convergence between the needs of industry and the expectations of the community
The Greener pastures project design has a number of components and activities.
Five Nitrogen Farmlets at the Vasse Research Centre will provide milk production responses to different levels of nitrogen fertiliser applied at each stage of the pasture season, as well as the profitability of systems driven by different rates of nitrogen use at each rotation. They will also be monitored for the rate and pathways of nitrogen loss.
| Nitrogen Farmlet | Rate of nitrogen Kg/ha/day | Rate of nitrogen Kg/ha/growing season* | Stocking rate Cows/ha |
|
F1 |
0 |
0 |
1.25 |
|
F2 |
0.5 |
100 |
1.50 |
|
F3 |
1.0 |
200 |
1.75 |
|
F4 |
1.5 |
300 |
2.00 |
|
F5 |
2.0 |
400 |
2.25 |
* based on a 200 day growing season
Further research in these Nitrogen Farmlets will quantify the amount of nitrogen fixed by clover receiving different rates of nitrogen fertiliser. It will also define the rate and quantity of nitrogen released by soil organic matter.
Two Innovation Farms (IF) at the Vasse Research Centre, one irrigation and one dryland and each with around 80 cows, will set benchmarks for feedbase productivity, grazing management and the profitable and sustainable use of nutrients.
These Innovation Farms will be managed as semi-commercial units with a focus on profitability and whole-farm efficiency of nutrient use, including urinary and fertiliser nitrogen. Innovations that maximise efficiency of nitrogen inputs will be trialled, with the aim of maximising return on investment and minimising nitrogen losses off the farm. One idea being examined is the feeding of maize silage to cows grazing pasture to produce a better balance between the energy and protein levels in the ration; this should reduce nitrogen losses through urine.
Four Partner Farms will demonstrate low risk options for better nutrient and pasture use on commercial dairy farms. The Partner Farms are strategically located to cover the different dryland and irrigation production systems found in the local dairy industry.
The projects network of commercial and research farms will develop practical and more nutrient efficient production systems. The Innovation Farms will combine the best strategies for nutrient management into practical, whole farm systems. The Partner Farms will explore these management strategies within a commercial, family farming business.
Component Research
The project will test a range of farm management tools with the potential to help farmers manage nitrogen more effectively and reduce nitrogen losses off the farm, in particular leaching of nitrate from urine patches. Current trials (C1 - Cn ) include:
- The use of the nitrification inhibitor compound DCD to reduce the rate of nitrogen leaching in urine patches. DCD is already used strategically in New Zealand but management needs to be developed locally.
- Seasonal changes in the efficiency of applied nitrogen fertiliser will be examined in small plots within the Nitrogen Farmlets
- A GreenPad trial has been set up to test the cost effectiveness of wood chips as a means of reducing nitrogen losses.
The results of component research will be applied and tested on the Innovation Farms to develop practical solutions for industry before commercial demonstration on the Partner Farms.
For progress updates on all of the projects components and activities, visit our Reports section at the greenerpastures website, accessible via www.agric.wa.gov.au. You are invited to join regular pasture walks at the Vasse Research Centre to discuss management of the Innovation Farms and Nitrogen Farmlets and the project results. These events are advertised throughout the year and are listed on our Upcoming Events section on the website.
You may also like to talk to our Management Committee that has been formed to oversee and recommend practices on our Innovation Farms and Nitrogen Farmlets. Members include Ian Noakes [Chairman], Ian McGregor [Farmer], David Kemp [Farmer], Michael Blake [Western Dairy], Ben Lechford [WA Farmers], Ralph Papalia [Fertiliser Industry], Paul Omodei [Farm Consultant] and Laurie Cransberg [Dairy Processors], along with John Lucey, Dr Robert Rouda and Dr Martin vH Staines from the Department of Agriculture and Food WA. The committee meets every two months. Current copies of the Innovation Farms management plans can be found in our Management Plans section on the website
Greenerpastures investors include the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Dairy Australia, Western Dairy, Land & Water Australia, CSIRO and the Western Australian Chemistry Centre.
Greenerpastures is a partner in Dairying for Tomorrow, the dairy industries national Natural Resource Management program. It also complements the NSW Future Dairy, Victorian 3030 and Tasmanian 2012 projects as part of a national suite of projects that aim to increase dairy farm returns through improved feed base management.
Contact
| Research: | Dr Martin vH Staines | 08 9753 0333 | mstaines@agric.wa.gov.au |
| Extension: | John Lucey | 08 9777 0124 | jlucey@agric.wa.gov.au |
Content ID: 7188
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