Where, why, or how the sustainability journey begins on a dairy farm can vary for each producer. A new programme from Trouw Nutrition combines proven solutions and tools to provide a holistic and tailored approach, wherever the journey begins.
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The dairy sector faces immense pressure to reduce carbon emissions, with farmers, feed advisors, processors, and retailers all playing a crucial role in driving sustainability throughout the supply chain. The sustainability journey often begins at farm level, as most significant progress can be made here.
“But every farm is unique and at a different stage in its sustainability journey. Because each operates differently, the solutions must be tailored accordingly,” says Dawn Botha, ruminant marketing manager at Trouw Nutrition. The best part is that dairy farmers now have more carbon reduction measures and knowledge at their disposal than ever before.
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Botha explains: “Today, we have a wide range of interventions available, from improving calf and heifer rearing and nutrition to applying precision feeding for different lactation groups through advanced modeling. We also optimise trace mineral recommendations and utilise life cycle assessment tools, among others. But the key question is: where should we start, and which decisions will have the greatest impact on each individual farm? This challenge led Trouw Nutrition to integrate all its proven solutions and tools into a comprehensive new programme designed to support customers at any stage of their sustainability journey: The Carbon Reduction Programme Dairy.”
Nutritional and digital Expertise
The new programme supports ruminants at every life stage, integrating proven sustainability practices and tools. Dr Liz Homer, sustainability manager ruminants ECA, explains: “Over the years, we have gained valuable insights and evidence on how to best feed calves and heifers to promote optimal health and growth, enabling first calving at 22-24 months. Our expertise in formulation, modelling, and nutrition has also evolved, allowing us to provide tailored diets for the start of lactation, peak production, and even up to the fifth lactation. But sustainability isn’t just about optimisation, it is also about measuring progress.”
This is why Trouw Nutrition combines its longstanding nutritional expertise with digital tools, such as MyMilkPrint and MyFeedPrint, to measure interventions on carbon reduction.
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MyFeedPrint calculates different environmental impact parameters of the feed ingredients and compound feed and blends, including the effect on climate change (what we call the carbon footprint, measured in kg CO2 equivalent). It allows feed advisors to formulate dairy rations on price, nutritional value and the environmental footprint of the feed ingredients used.
MyMilkPrint uses farm-specific inputs such as milk yield and quality, herd information, farm grown ingredients, combined with data of purchased feeds and nutritional data, energy use and manure management. Having this valuable data enables feed advisors to help dairy producers make more sustainable decisions and be more competitive, without losing milk production and animal performance.
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These tools are fitting examples of easy-to-use and accurate LCA services that help dairy farmers get these insights and start their journey towards building a sustainable dairy cow. By applying this holistic approach, inputs are optimised on multiple levels while maintaining performance and profitability.
“But it is not only about producing more milk per cow,” says Homer. “It is about producing milk in a smarter way. With a targeted and tailored approach, we support farmers to be more efficient and profitable and reduce emissions at the same time. And this doesn’t have to cost money. And, all of these interventions are able to reduce carbon emissions [see box below].”
Key Strategies of the Carbon Reduction Program Dairy Include:
LifeStart: Optimising calf rearing to achieve first calving at 22–24 months, reducing emissions by 6% per kg FPCM.
HealthyLife: Improving culling and replacement rates to optimise herd structure, cutting emissions by 5%.
Precision nutrition: Enhancing diet formulation and maximising milk from forage to lower purchased feed and methane emissions, improving feed efficiency and reducing footprint by up to 10%.
Responsible minerals: Ensuring responsible mineral nutrition to minimise excretion, enhance performance and support lowered emissions by approximately 1.5-2%.
MyFeedPrint: Calculating raw material and compound feed footprint at the feed mill with the potential to half emissions associated per tonne of feed and reduce footprint by approximately 9%.
MyMilkPrint: Establishing a baseline carbon footprint and modelling farm-level improvements for sustained reductions of approximately 30%.
Time to Navigate Sustain Succeed
The dairy industry is at a pivotal moment as global demand for sustainable food production intensifies. With carbon emissions at the farm level under increasing scrutiny, the sector is embracing science-based solutions to enhance efficiency while reducing its environmental footprint. Farmers, feed advisors, processors, and retailers all play a critical role in implementing sustainable practices across the entire supply chain. From optimising feed formulations to improving herd management and manure handling, a holistic approach is essential to drive meaningful change.
The Carbon Reduction Programme Dairy from Trouw Nutrition supports dairy producers in navigating evolving sustainability challenges, sustain an efficient and responsible production, and succeed in a competitive, rapidly changing industry. For feed advisors, it offers tools and guidance to assess farm-level decisions and their impact on productivity, profitability, and carbon footprint. For processors, the programme serves as a practical guide to reducing Scope 3 emissions on supplier farms.