| Dairy Effluent Management Assistance
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The Ringwould Dairy and Cheesery
is an organic farm currently milking
2 cows, 70 sheep and 70 goats
with plans to expand to up to 6
cows, 200 sheep and 200 goats
over a two year period. The owners
consulted Tom Long from Dairycatch
then approached the Wilson
Inlet Catchment Committee for assistance
to manage the dairy effluent
to ensure the impact of the operation
on the environment was
minimal with the Blue Gum Creek
only 300 metres north of the milking
shed. The daily amount of manure
produced by goats and sheep
is generally 5% of their body
weight. Using this estimate and a
maximum number of 400 animals
on this farm, the calculated amount
of manure produced by the herd
will be 1,500 kg/day. Hence this
enterprise has the potential to impact
on the quality of the waterway.
A trafficable sump has been constructed
to collect and separate the
solid and liquid waste from the
dairy and holding yards. The sump
is located so wash-down water and
contaminated run-off from the yard
flows to it by gravity. It will be capable
of retaining up to 7 days of
effluent loading and saves labour
because a two wheel drive tractor
can clean it.
The liquid effluent will be used to
irrigate forage crops, deep rooted
perennials and to graze horses,
rather than the sheep and goats.
The nutrients in the effluent will
eventually replace the need for applying
inorganic fertiliser on about
two hectares of pasture. Most of the
solid manure will be incorporated
into the soil at nutrient deficient areas
of the property.
Cheese making separates proteins
from milk, creating whey, a valuable
food product. The milk supply
for many larger cheese factories
comes from distant herds, making it
too difficult to recover the food
value of the whey by feeding back
to the herd. In those cases, whey is
a waste product which adds to the
organic strength of the effluent.
However, this herd will be close to
this facility so the food value of
whey can be easily and efficiently
recovered. The whey will be transported
directly to a feeding trough
and will not be part of the effluent.
The young stock must be kept
clean, warm and dry at all times as
they have no body fat reserves
needing shelter from cold, damp
and draughts. Therefore a shelter
has been constructed next to the
milking shed to protect the young
stock. A layer of wood chips will be
used as bedding and changed before and following winter. This material
will be composted by aerobic
windrowing in a well drained
location. The high temperatures
generated by the composting process,
kill weed seeds and pathogens.
After composting the material
it will be incorporated into soil
where summer crops are grown to
maintain the herd. The solids removed
from the sump will be
added to this compost pile. The
composted material will be incorporated
into soil on nutrient deficient
paddocks of the farm.
Contact the Wilson Inlet Catchment
Committee if you have an enterprise
you would like to make more
environmentally sustainable.
| Soil and Plant Fertility Workshop
|
A workshop on soil and plant fertility was held on the
10th of March 2009 at the Denmark Agricultural College.
The workshop included speakers from the Department
of Agriculture and Food covering the topics
of: Soil testing Ð how, when and what to test for as well
as analysis interpretation and plant tissue testing (as
above) and its relationship with soil testing.
An infield demonstration completed the workshop with
a demonstration of a simple, user friendly in field diagnosis
method for ascertaining soil fertility.
The workshop was well attended with a mixture of land
owners ranging from hobby farmers to grazers and
horticulturists.
Free soil testing kits are available from the WICC Denmark
and Mt Barker offices. Contact either Elissa or
Lynn for more details.
The Wilson Inlet Report to the Community took
place on Thursday 20th November 2008. The evening
saw several speakers from the Wilson Inlet
Catchment Committee, Department of Water, Murdoch
University and Water Corporation talk about
the research and monitoring that has occurred in the
Wilson Inlet catchment. A summary of WINRAP over
the past five years and the future direction for WINRAP
was also given.
After the speakers there were numerous questions
and healthy discussion about the Wilson Inlet by
members of the community. Overall feedback from
attending people was positive. Many found the night
to be informative and commented that the forum
answered many of their questions.
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