The new president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) believes that changes to the N value of calves up to 12-months-of-age may help nitrates derogation farmers address stocking numbers.
Denis Drennan is also hopeful that there will be ‘flexibility’ for farmers affected by the changes to the nitrates derogation.
Speaking to Agriland in an exclusive interview, Drennan said he is hopeful that measures will be introduced for farmers affected by the reduction in maximum stocking rate under the nitrates derogation.
He believes a number of measures which are within the remit of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) could be introduced to ease the pressure placed on farms by the impending changes to the nitrates derogation.
From January 2024, the maximum stocking rate on farms availing of a nitrates derogation will reduce from 250kg of organic nitrogen (N)/ha to 220kg of organic N/ha.
This has placed significant pressure on farms that are currently stocked at over 220kg of organic N to develop a solution to reduce the organic stocking rate on their farms.
N value of calves
Speaking to Agriland Drennan said he believes that organic nitrogen associated with a calf from birth to 12 weeks of age could drop from around 6kg to 1kg of N.
He said changing the N value of young calves would help with overall stocking rates on farms and take the pressure off farms to move calves on quickly.
Based on DAFM figures, currently cattle under one-year-of-age have an organic stocking rate of 0.473kg/week. So, for the first 12 weeks of life they have an organic N stocking rate of 5.676kg.
Reducing this figure back to 1kg for the first 12 weeks could be quite significant for some farms to reduce overall stocking rates.
Concentrates
Drennan would also like to see a reduction in the N excretion of the cows when it comes to farmers that feed a lower protein percentage concentrate during the summer months.
He said that research from Laurence Shalloo, head of the Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation programme at Teagasc, has shown that reducing to a 12% protein concentrate from April to September will have a ‘huge’ impact on the N excretion rate of dairy cows.
But this is based on the premise that grassland management is in good order and quality grass is being offered to cows.
Banding was introduced at the start of 2023, with three bands in place based on milk yields of the herd.
Bands Milk yields Excretion rate Band 1 <4,500kg of milk 80kg organic N/cow Band 2 4,500-6,500kg of milk 92kg organic N/cow Band 3 >6,500kg of milk 106kg organic N/cow
For the months that the lower protein concentrates is fed, the N excretion rate of the cow would be reduced.
This would mean that the overall stocking rate on the farm would be reduced for the year.
Exporting slurry
It is understood that the government will encourage farmers to export slurry as a potential way to reduce a farm’s organic stocking rate.
Grant aid is now available for farmers who want to invest in new slurry storage facilities.
But this measure has a challenge as the N value of the exported slurry is currently 2.4kg/m3, having been reduced from 5kg/m3 at the start of 2023.
Drennan would like to see this figure return closer to 3kg/m3 which whould aid in reducing the organic stocking rate of farms and ensure that more slurry could be retained on the holding.
However although slurry may still need to be exported off farm, Drennan believes that if the N value was increased, more slurry could then be used on the holding it was produced on.
According to Drennan, without these measures, on average, a farm stocked over 220kg of organic N would have had to reduce stocking rates by around 12%.
But with the adoption of the measures he has discussed with Agriland this would be reduced by 7% and the net result would be a reduction is stocking rate of around 5%.