D A I R Y I n i t i a t i v e s N E W S L E T T E R
V o l u m e 1 2 I s s u e 1 S p r i n g 2 0 0 3

Dairy Cows Are Good Land Stewards

by JOE CONLIN
Quality Dairy Management Services

Some critics claim that dairy farms are bad for the environment. In reality, dairy cows make good land stewards for several reasons.

First of all, the dairy industry is based on use of renewable resources. That means it's one of the state's most sustainable environmental and economic engines.

Cropping systems have been changing as dairy cows leave the Minnesota landscape. Minnesota had one dairy cow for every 54 acres of farmland in 2001 compared with one for every 19 acres in 1945. Hay and pasture cover crops are being replaced with less sustainable continuous row crops. This leaves our valuable soil resources vulnerable to water and wind erosion and reduces our ability to control weeds and crop diseases through cultural practices and natural crop diversity.

There is little use for pasture or hay crops without cows. Therefore, as the cows leave, our cropping systems have become dependent on continuous row crops, corn, and beans as cash crops.

Cows help keep the nutrient cycle in balance. Balanced, sustainable systems use nutrients more than once. Corn provides nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and essential nutrients the cow needs to produce milk. The cow excretes what she doesn't use as manure. The manure from one cow contains enough nitrogen and phosphorus to grow 1 to 1.5 acres of corn, producing 150 bushels per acre, when used as a fertilizer. Without the cow, all of the crop nutrients need to be purchased as commercial fertilizer. In other words, cash cropping is like mining the soil of crop nutrients.

Both manure and commercial fertilizers are potential pollutants with improper handling and application. Modern dairy technology has made great strides in controlling and conserving manure nutrients to be more available to the crops and reduce the potential hazard to the environment. These systems provide storage for the manure nutrients year around to control and preserve nutrients for crop production. Manure application can now be timed to make the best use for crop production. Manure also can be injected into the soil to minimize runoff, volatilization loss, and control odor. Minnesota has very strict standards for storage basins. The standards take in to account soil types, topography, and other factors related to the proposed site. Present-day manure management plans ensure application rates of manure nutrients are kept in balance with crop needs to prevent potential pollution.

Manure management practices of the past such as daily hauling and surface spreading, keeping cows in open lots lacking drainage diversion from water sources, applying manure to the handiest areas, and stacking on in areas without runoff containment are discouraged. Our goal now is to make our environment safe for this and future generations. Minnesota has strict standards to reflect our new values, and great strides have been made with new technology to protect our environment. Perceptions based on the past don't hold. New science, technology, and standards have brought us to a new era of protecting our environment. Animal agriculture is an essential part of sustaining our environment for future generations. Dairy cows are good land stewards.

D A I R Y I n i t i a t i v e s N E W S L E T T E R
Volume 12 Issue 1 Spring 2003