Why Gippsland dairy farmers should be putting seaweed in the feed

Slipping a little seaweed into a cow's diet can lessen the dire impact bovine belching and farting has on the planet.

That’s just one of the ways Australian dairy farmers can significantly cut their emissions, according to Dr Richard Eckard, Professor of Carbon Farming at the University of Melbourne.

Eckard helps farmers around the country calculate their carbon footprint and find ways to reduce it - but he told the Monitor the real goal is for farmers to find ways to increase profitability in the process.

What happened: Eckard said that as markets, banks and food producers aim to reduce their carbon pollution, farmers are increasingly required to demonstrate low-emission practices.

• 🗣️“In Australia, 75 percent of our produce is exported,” Eckard said. “It's those export markets that are asking for these emissions reduction targets.”

Making choices more profitable

🗣️“Dairy is one of the fortunate industries that has the ability to knock off about 50 percent of [its] emissions,” Eckard said.

The problem is to cut those emissions in some areas, farmers would currently face a drop in profitability.

• Improving soil health: Dairy farmers can coat fertiliser with an inhibitor that reduces emissions from fertiliser by 50 percent. 

“This can happen tomorrow,” Eckard said. “It's just that the fertiliser [with an inhibitor] costs 14 percent more and doesn't give farmers productivity growth.”

• Seaweed feed: Including seaweed or Bovaer (a feed additive for cattle) into their cows’ feed can reduce methane output by 50 percent.

If farmers use Bovaer, the reduction in emissions could earn them seven cents per cow per day in carbon credits they can sell on the open market. Eckard said the problem is Bovaer costs 50 cents per cow per day, so farmers are running at a loss.

How have companies helped farmers reach these goals?

Coles and Woolworths have a target of being carbon neutral by 2050. If these companies can get their meat and dairy providers to cut carbon and methane emissions, it helps them reach the target.

Coles has invested in expanding the use of Bovaer in the meat suppliers it buys from, and Woolworths in a home brand seaweed-derived feed.

Help farmers out

Eckard said farmers can seek assistance on lowering emissions from companies in their supply chain.

• 🗣️“It's your milk supply company, it's your JBS Foods, it's your bank, it's the fertiliser company,” Eckard said. “Those are the ones that have targets on the international stage to show that they're reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.”

Tipping the scales 

Clydebank farming couple Sandra Jefford and Wilco Droppert have been farming together for over 25 years. They moved to their current farm in Clydebank in 2011 and have 380 cows that are milked year round.

Jefford told the Monitor they are always looking for ways to cut carbon emissions.

🗣️“One of the things we realised when we did the carbon calculator was the faster we can grow our cattle that means there's less emissions,” Jefford said.

To achieve this Jefford and Droppert installed scales on their land so they could weigh the cows more frequently. This means heifers are ready for breeding earlier and beef cattle are ready for sale earlier.

• Weight data enables farmers to tailor feed amounts to the exact needs of the animal, preventing overfeeding, which wastes money, or underfeeding, which slows growth.

🗣️“Overall it's better for your business,” Jefford said. 

Everything old is new again 

“If you look at the graph of greenhouse gas emissions per litre of milk or per kilogram live [animal] weight, it has been dropping steadily,” Eckard said. “Farmers have been reducing emissions intensity by adopting best practices for the last 40 years.”