Dairy producers keen to remain green

Dairy producers and processors Ross and Sally Hopper run Maleny Dairies, north of Brisbane and are committed to implementing sustainability measures and reducing their carbon footprint.

They work with an environment, social, and governance framework and have recently been invited by the State Development and Innovation to form part of a reference group focusing on ESG.

Maleny Dairies senior leader Tanya Alison said they were conscious of their environmental inputs and outputs as an business and were working with a sustainable strategy that aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

She said they were committed to their ESG policy framework, which included health and welfare of animals and reduction of their environmental impact through good stewardship of natural resources.

Part of the strategy was to work with producers to look at methods that would assist them with carbon emission reduction, including soil development and carbon sequestration and herd management practices.

"We encourage our farmers to use cow collars to continuously monitor all aspects of their health, welfare and behaviour," she said.

"This provides consumer confidence on product provenance and assists farmers with herd management, traceability, Identification of abnormal behaviour and animal wandering.

"Many of our farmers follow a selective artificial insemination program which involves inseminating the herd with already sexed 90 per cent female semen. This means that a very large majority of calves born are girls, adding to the dairy herd."

Ms Alison said in addition to supporting the producers they work with they looked for solutions which improved sustainability and reduce energy use and waste at their Maleny site.

"The factory applies lean manufacturing principles to maximise productivity while simultaneously minimising waste within all operations," she said.

"A continuation of upgrades and improvements to the production facility will continue to address key issues that cause considerable downtime, manual handling and waste."

This comes as the world's first low-emission milk, Eco-Milk, produced by Ashgrove Dairy hits the shelves in supermarkets across Tasmania.

The eco-friendly milk came from a collaboration with Tasmanian seaweed farmer and stockfeed processor, Sea Forest.

The dairy cows are fed a product called SeaFeed, which contains a 10 milligram dose of the asparagopsis seaweed. As a result, the milk is produced with a quarter of the methane emissions of other full cream milks.

Sea Forest spokesperson said there had been a good response to Eco-Milk since it landed in the supermarkets.

"Speaking to Ashgrove, they're super happy with the positive response of consumers. It's been selling around double what they'd forecast," the spokesperson said.

"Eco-Milk is currently stocked in Woolworths, IGA, Hillstreet Grocer and Salamanca Fresh stores right across Tassie."

Sea Forest is already working with a number of beef cattle farms in Queensland, with plans to collaborate with Queensland dairies in the near future.

"There's a huge opportunity for a Queensland dairy to be the first mover and own this space in the Queensland market," the spokesperson said.

Ms Alison said they were aware of the use of asparagopsis seaweed in cattle feed and would be open to hearing more about how it impacts the milk in terms of taste and shelf life. They are also looking into the use of livestock char feed.

"Agspend has a plant up near Gympie and that is something we would like our farmers to know about," she said.

"It is something I am passionate about and want to drive further, it would be great to see how things continue with Ashgrove, they have a great reputation down there in Tasmania.

"I am hoping for them to be a great success for Ashgrove so that encourages other producers to look into it."