How dairy businesses can reduce carbon and stay profitable

How a comprehensive and tailored whole-farm process can ensure dairy farms reduce emissions cost-effectively to deliver more sustainable and profitable milk production.

There are two primary challenges when setting out to improve the sustainability of milk production. The first is deciding the best way to go about carbon reduction.

The second is maintaining the momentum in the optimum direction of travel.

“Both of these will be best achieved by adopting a logical approach that considers all sources of emissions and identifies where action can be successfully taken,” comments Nacia Bonnick, Trouw Nutrition Sustainability Manager Ruminants GB.

“There is no silver bullet in achieving dairy herd emission reduction. A successful approach will consider the herd across every stage of the production cycle with clear targets.

“This is the rationale behind the Trouw Nutrition Carbon Reduction Programme Dairy: a holistic, easy to implement programme providing expert guidance and a tailored approach to help dairy farmers navigate their sustainability journey.”

Nacia Bonnick © Trouw Nutrition

Whole farm approach

The programme combines feed and farm data with practical advice to support efficient production from calf to the fifth lactation, helping reduce the farm’s carbon footprint while most importantly maintaining or improving production, driving profitability.

It supports ruminants through every life stage – from calf to heifer, transition cow, milking cow and into the fifth lactation with tailored interventions, expert guidance and digital tools to drive farm-specific carbon reduction.

Acknowledging the intricate connections between a dairy farm’s environmental goals, farm productivity and economic viability, emphasises that the Carbon Reduction Programme Dairy brings a whole farm approach to the sustainability journey.

© Trouw Nutrition

Team Collaboration

Highlighting the need to include all involved in advising the business, the programme integrates expert advice with practical strategies and innovative on-farm tools to address each farm’s unique challenges through a scientifically validated approach.

The programme goes beyond simply calculating a farm’s carbon footprint to evaluate how decisions may influence animal performance and farm profitability.

With this in mind, a plan can be made on how these can be delivered in practice.

For example, users can evaluate how switching between raw materials will affect the farm’s emissions as well as the effect on feed costs and animal performance.

These ‘what-if’ capabilities mean farmers can plan how to reduce emissions while implementing practical steps to support their business.

Farmers, feed compounders and other advisors are very driven to reduce farm emissions but the journey is complex. Carbon Reduction Programme Dairy is about producing milk in a smarter way.

Expert guidance, tailored services, precision nutrition and strategic farm management work together to enhance cows’ longevity, boost farm productivity and support sustainability from calf through to her achieving an optimal fifth lactation.

This fosters transparency and accountability to address the interests of different sectors in the value chain, including regulatory bodies, processors, retailers and consumers.

Carbon Reduction Programme Dairy can help farms navigate their own sustainability journey, sustain their business and succeed in the challenge to feed the future.

© Trouw Nutrition

For more information or to contact us, visit the Trouw Nutrition website.