Our Dairy for Healthy Estuaries project recently hosted visits to two dairy farms. Planning and environmental health officers from local governments visited the farms to observe best practice in the protection of waterways.
Project officer Niamh Rayne says that best-practice effluent management on dairy farms helps to protect downstream waterways and make the most of the nutrients.
“Many dairy farmers are constantly improving their effluent management systems, which manage the liquid and solid waste on farms. The best-practice standards outlined in the Code of practice for dairy farm effluent management help farmers ensure nutrients from effluent are stored or are being taken up by plants. This means they stay on the farm and out of our waterways,” Niamh said.
“Recently, we visited two farms near Busselton and Denmark with local government planning and environmental health officers. They appreciated the opportunity to visit a working dairy to see how effluent is managed. They came away from the day better prepared for future development applications from dairy farms,” said Niamh.
“The farms we visited had undergone gradual infrastructure upgrades in recent years which helped them to get up to speed with the Code and reduce their fertiliser and water usage. Some of the components had funding contributions from Healthy Estuaries WA and it was great to see the systems working well,” she added.
“By getting out on farm and providing resources that complement the Code of Practice, we’re hoping to better support farmers through the planning process when they’re looking at upgrading infrastructure,” Niamh said.
Western Dairy’s extension officer Dan Parnell noted that some emerging changes in WA’s dairy industry will make best-practice effluent management even more critical.
“There’s a potential trend in the dairy industry towards more intensification, where cows are housed or spend less time on the paddock. That means we capture more nutrients which makes effluent management more challenging, but alongside that there are some great opportunities,” Dan said.
“Farmers will need to invest in a system capable of catching and treating all the effluent and have a sufficient area to reapply these nutrients to match crop or pasture requirements.”
For more information about the dairy for healthy estuaries project, visit our project page.
Rob McFerran (DWER) inspects the newly installed solids storage pad
Niamh Rayne (DWER), farmer Andrew Jenkins and Dan Parnell (Western Dairy) presenting to local government officers