Sustainable Forage Cropping for Dairy Cattle in the Face of Climate Change Challenges

Forage production (whether grazed or conserved) is an essential cornerstone of any dairy business.  Climate change is inevitable, and for many UK farms this will mean more extreme weather, with warmer, wetter winters and hotter, dryer summers.  This challenges the de-facto methods of forage production in the UK dairy industry; namely perennial ryegrass leys supplemented with maize/whole crop cereals. 

To understand how UK farmers can adapt, I visited dairying regions slightly closer to the equator; France, Australia and New Zealand.  The following observations were made:

In many dryer regions (Victoria, Tasmania, Loire, Canterbury Plains) irrigation is deemed necessary for dairy businesses to thrive.  Where practical, the economic case for irrigation of forage crops may become justified in the UK, as is commonplace in France, Australia and New Zealand.

Alternative crops, better able to cope with dry conditions, will be part of the solution. Most are already well known, and include deeper rooting grasses (cocksfoot, fescues), herbs (chicory, plantain) and legumes (lucerne, red clover).  Grazing management of these is different to perennial ryegrass, for example longer rotations and higher residuals.

Warmer, wetter winters present an opportunity to grow valuable cover crops, for example between maize crops, which can offer additional tonnes of dry matter, alongside other benefits such as reducing nutrient leaching, improving soil structure, outwintering and increasing organic matter.

However, solutions will require more than a change to the seeds we sow, and how we grow them. Dairy systems will evolve to mitigate risks, as seen in other nations with more extreme climates, and dairy farms are likely to diverge into the following two specialisms:

• All-year-round confinement systems, where cows are fully housed and fed a total mixed ration. Feed can be grown and ensiled in the “good times”, or substituted with imported feedstuffs.  Capital spend is higher, so milk yields are higher (10,000+ litres) to compensate for higher depreciation, finance and fixed costs. 
• Block calving, grazing-based systems, with a calving pattern to best-match the grass growth potential of the area; i.e. spring calving for wetter areas, autumn calving for drier farms.  Yield is lower, but so are overall costs, leaving similar potential for profit.  These systems “let the cow do the work”.

Given that I run a grass-based system, this study has gravitated towards grazing systems.  I deem these to be more sustainable, as they have a lower embodied carbon cost, are better able to cope with volatile milk price and as ruminants evolved to graze, they are potentially better able to provide eco-system benefits if managed sympathetically. 

In addition, benefits of the following (non-crop-related) approaches have been observed:

• Planting more trees/hedges
• Breeding smaller/more efficient cows
• Enhancement of soil health and organic matter through a range of measures, including reduced tillage and mob-grazing

Fundamentally, farming systems become more resilient when they work in harmony with nature, and we would be wise to evolve our businesses to suit this.