Resource Efficient Dairy (RED) trial

DairyNZ set up the Resource Efficient Dairy (RED) trial stage one in September 2001 and was completed in June 2008. The aim was to evaluate the economic and environmental implications of dairy farming intensification.

Stage one of the RED trial was funded by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology as part of the Sustainable Environment Management strategy, and was implemented to test the increasing amounts of feed into a dairy system and to discover what effects they have on profitability, environmental pollutants and soil damage.

Dave Clark RED trial

"We have six years of really good information" says DairyNZ Principal Scientist Dave Clark

Six experimental farmlets were located on DairyNZ's Scott Research Farm, Hamilton with 21 Holstein-Friesian cows on each farmlet which range in size from 3ha to 9ha. Feed inputs vary from 15t to 40t DM/ ha/ per year with stocking rates varying from 2.3 to 7 cows/ha.

All farmlets were based on perennial ryegrass-white clover pastures receiving 170kg N fertiliser/ha per year, except the Low Input farmlet which receives no N fertiliser and carries four yearling heifers as replacements throughout the year. The type of farmlet determines the amount and type of supplement and feed offered to the herds. However maize silages were used (with some soybean meal) on the three highest stocked farmlets.

Three major findings have emerged:

As you intensify production you can increase your profitability. However two major variables that can determine how much extra profitability you get are milk payout and feed cost.

Although you get more profitability with more intensive systems you are much more exposed to financial risk. The high input systems can make you more money when the payout is high however they can be very risky if the payout falls or farm costs rise.

By increasing feed input you increase your environmental risk. When you bring a large amount of feed onto your farm up to 120 kg/ ha of nitrogen can be lost by nitrate leaching and losses of nitrous oxide and methane will increase.

Results from the "Standoff" farmlet led to the development of the new prototype "Tight N" farmlet. The purpose of the Tight N farmlet is to produce 1200 kg MS/ ha and to also reduce nitrate leaching by over 50 percent.

" We now have six years of really good data in production, economics and environmental results that have come out of stage one", says DairyNZ Principal Scientist Dave Clark.

Dave and his team have secured government funding to develop New Zealand dairy farming systems that are sustainable in all areas, as well as being prepared for the Carbon Emission Trading Scheme when it comes into place in 2013. Planning for stage two will be underway by October 2008.

Scientists believe that stage two will bring them closer to the solution of how to keep dairy farming very profitable but at the same time stay environmentally friendly.