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‘Diet Check’ Is Now Available

Dr Michelle Jones

Diet Check is a CD-ROM tool designed to assist Victorian dairy farmers in ensuring grazing dairy cows are consuming sufficient metabolisable energy, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre for a target level of milk production.

By Department of Primary Industries - 21st August 2003 - Back to News

This is especially important when both pastures and supplements are fed to grazing dairy cows. The program also gives an indication of the likely production and economic benefits of supplementation.

The Diet Check program:

• uses the Feeding Standards for Australian Livestock - Ruminants (SCA 1990) to calculate animal energy requirements. These standards take into account the energy cost of grazing and of activity, as well as those for maintenance, lactation and pregnancy
• estimates pasture mass, pasture intake, nutrient selection from pasture and substitution based on data from experiments with grazing dairy cows in Victoria
• calculates whether metabolisable energy, crude protein or neutral detergent fibre is likely to be deficient for a particular level of milk production
• is simple to use, with an 'input' screen and a 'results' screen
• has inputs that can be easily determined/observed on farm
• is supported by a number of help files
• integrates nutritional principles included in the 'Nutrition Program' run by Target 10
• allows you to determine the consequences of changing feed management practices on farm For example, what would happen if the amount of pasture offered to cows each day was altered? What supplement(s) can be fed to achieve a target level of production?

If you belong to a discussion group that would like a copy of Diet Check, a two-hour workshop can be organised for your group to learn how to use the program. Individual farmers, who are not members of a discussion group, can also register their interest in obtaining a copy of Diet Check and a workshop will be organised once there are enough people. It is preferred that anyone wanting a copy of the Diet Check program attends one of these workshops. The time and location of these workshops across Gippsland will be dependent on the level of inquiry and the work commitments of farmers. Please phone Natalie Nelson at DPI Leongatha on 5662 9911 to book your workshop today.

BIODIVERSITY FOR YOUR BOTTOM LINE

Dr. Michelle Jones, DPI Ellinbank

Farmers have been using and relying on the biodiversity on their farms for centuries. Biodiversity plays a role in processes such as nutrient cycling, water purification and pest management, all of which contribute to farm productivity. Nutrients are cycled from the soil to plants, to animals and back by soil organisms, a process that ensures efficient use of fertilisers and other applied nutrients. Aquatic invertebrates assist in water purification, providing farms with clean water for stock and domestic use. Natural predators assist in pest control on farms, reducing the use of pesticides.

Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is ‘the natural diversity of all life’. Biodiversity includes all of our native plants (flora) and animals (fauna), their habitats, and the ecosystems they form. This means that biodiversity doesn’t just refer to animals such as the platypus and plants like flowering gums, but includes aquatic and land insects, soil micro-organisms and worms, mosses and lichens, hollow logs and fallen leaves, and native grasses through to the tallest trees.

There are many management decisions that impact on biodiversity on farms. Patches of native bush and trees provide important habitat for birds and bats, predators of many insect pests. Maintaining these patches, especially old or ‘remnant’ patches, by restricting stock access will ensure their longevity. Rivers and the land adjacent to rivers (riparian zones) are important habitat for many flora and fauna. Managing a riparian zone for biodiversity benefits (fenced and replanted) will improve water quality, which benefits livestock. Livestock losses will also decrease, as will the time taken to locate livestock. Native vegetation acts as a windbreak and provides shade, reducing the cold and heat stress experienced by livestock that has previously been linked to reduced milk production, reduced stock fertility and mortality of calves. Native vegetation also assists with the control of erosion and land slippage, provides high quality habitat for wildlife, and improves property landscape and aesthetics, which in turn increases property values.

Managing your farm to improve biodiversity may include activities such as:

• planting trees, shrubs and grasses that are native to your local area along the gullies, steep slopes and waterways of your farm
• fencing off your waterways to exclude livestock
• soil testing your paddocks prior to fertiliser application to avoid applying excess nutrients
• leaving wood and dead trees where they fall – if in the way of farm operations, move to a designated area rather than destroy
• managing your environmental weeds as well as pasture weeds
• if contemplating a new dairy, think about placement away from streams, creeks or rivers

‘Productive Grazing, Healthy Rivers’ is a new research project at DPI Ellinbank that aims to improve biodiversity along rivers and riparian zones on dairy farms in southern Victoria. As part of this project, extensive surveys of riparian zones in Gippsland and south west Victoria are identifying a range of small mammals, birds, frogs, vegetation and aquatic invertebrates. It is exciting to have detected native animals such as the water rat and dusky antechinus on productive dairy farms. Clearly, productive land management and native biodiversity can coexist. However, these findings also provide added incentive to protect our waterways and the animals that reside there. We have a responsibility to ensure those native plants and animals continue to exist on productive dairy farms.

While sustainable agriculture is not new to the dairy industry, research programs designed to enhance biodiversity in agriculture continue to gain momentum. The outcomes of the ‘Productive Grazing, Healthy Rivers’ project will improve riparian and in-stream biodiversity through delivering appropriate and practical on-farm riparian management strategies. The benefits gained are not limited to individual farming properties, but may extend off-farm to whole catchment scale improvements in water quality, reduced salinity and increased wildlife habitat.

For further information contact Dr Michelle Jones at DPI Ellinbank on (03) 5624 2222.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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