Tag Archives: environment

Winter milestones

  Winter can be hard work on a dairy farm, wet, muddy, cold, windy and short days.  It’s not all bad though, I love the crisp winter days and I must admit part of me enjoys the cold fronts which … Continue reading

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Why we plant trees

We are often asked by visitors and others why we plant trees on our farm.  Shade and shelter for our cows, biodiversity and habitat for native species and creating a great place to live and work are the reasons we … Continue reading

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Record heatwave matched and more to come

Record heatwave matched and more to come March 10, 2013 from The AgeWe always expect a bit of early autumn hot weather, like usual when the weather turns hot my thoughts turn to cow comfort. Keeping our cows cool is … Continue reading

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A single gram of farming soil will contain more than 10,000 different species of micro-organisms.

Look after the soil physical and chemical properties and the soil biology will look after itself. That was the key message I took from a recent soil biology forum I attended. “The diversity of micro-organisms in soils is far larger … Continue reading

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Rare frost.

We often get frost in the gullies and lower areas of our farm but only 3-4 times a year do we get frost over all our rolling hills. The morning was a good one, with frost lingering until about 9am. … Continue reading

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Setting up pastures for winter

Heading into winter it is critical we have lots of high quality pasture on hand, pasture growth rates decline as the days shorten and our soils cool down. To manage our pastures we monitor the pasture cover in each paddock … Continue reading

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Getting a grip on Dairy farm GHG emmisions

In 2010 we undertook our first analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from our dairy farm. To do this we used the industry developed tool DGAS. DGAS software is intended to give the user an understanding of the greenhouse gases emitted … Continue reading

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Dairy farmers do have holidays.

A common misconception is dairy farmers are tied to their farms and never get away. Like many people running a small businesses it can be difficult to get away from a dairy farm but it is a high priority for … Continue reading

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Checking up on Soil Carbon

Last year we offered up some soil from one of our paddocks as part of a national research project.  Scientists who are part of The Victorian Soil Carbon Project came one rainy day to take the samples. The project’s aim … Continue reading

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Dairy farmers have reduce methane emissions by 28% since 1980

As a farmer sometimes it feels like non farmers think of us as slow country folk who still farm as our forefathers did or profit driven, chemical lovin, nutters who care for nothing but our back pocket. The reality for … Continue reading

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