I was approached recently by a dairy farming family passionate about their farm and dedicated to the dairy industry. Their concern was the steadily escalating cost of producing milksolids and the rapidly declining amount paid for them.
Specifically they were concerned about the cost of their fertiliser programme which included the cost of urea. Although they said those costs were not rising rapidly they had drawn a link between fertiliser and what seemed to be declining pasture production.
Having already voiced their concern about total pasture production to the representative of their local fertiliser company, a soil test had been taken and the recommendation was to increase the level of all inputs particularly phosphorus and nitrogen.
That didn’t sit well with them, and they didn’t see it as an answer to the increasing damage by flea and weevil each year resulting in greater areas of pasture requiring renovation or renewal in autumn.
My recommendation was to apply more calcium in the form of lime in conjunction with DoloZest the biologically active product based on dolomite. Maintenance amounts of phosphorus, potassium, and sulphur were also recommended, along with a steady phasing out of fertiliser nitrogen.
Information collected over the last eight years showing DoloZest based programmes to have increased total pasture production, improved animal performance, reduced damage by pests, as well as increasing the sense of pleasure and well-being of farming families, was presented.
Still a little sceptical they asked if they could speak to farmers using the programmes. Several clients that have been using DoloZest for more than five years were spoken with, along with customers that started within the last twelve months.
Despite having received only positive responses there was still a reluctance to place the order. The reluctance to change eventually surfaced, “nitrogen grows more grass, doesn’t it?”
The answer is, in the short term yes, and in the longer term no, depending on quantity and frequency of application. It has since been explained to me that some farmers have become conditioned to short term fixes, with a subsequent loss of long term perspective.
Increasingly local body authorities have been drawing lines on maps and stipulating the conditions under which farmers particularly intensive dairy operations may continue to operate.
One regulation that is being put in place throughout the country right now stipulates the quantity of nitrate nitrogen permitted to leak from farms and in some instances the time by which the standard must be met.
Farmers no longer have a privileged position when it comes to their environmental footprint and should they decide not to comply with regulations on nitrate nitrogen losses they are likely to have to relocate, and eventually the net will spread.
The effect that will have on current land values could be catastrophic. There are however nutrient programmes that include strategic use of nitrogen fertiliser which may well allow intensive pastoral farming to continue in even the most sensitive water catchment areas.
These programmes are supported by long term grass growth figures, total farm production records, and most recently nitrate nitrogen leaching figures. Not proof as that will take at least ten years of work by research institutes, but enough data to show there is a sound long term alternative.