Farm Description

Loup Valley Dairy operates on land owned by two farmers (Monty Birnie, and Jim Jenkins) in central Nebraska. The property has been in their families for five generations, and has been used for a variety of agricultural purposes, from growing corn to providing range land for beef. Over time, the farmers realized that the conventional farming techniques were having a bad effect on the land: erosion increased, and the high inputs of chemicals was affecting wildlife. Once they became aware of techniques of intensively managed grazing, they became convinced that it would be possible to make a living working with nature rather than against it, and that ecological farming principles could lead to higher profits in spite of lower yields. They decided to convert a portion of their land to a seasonal grass dairy.

Monty Birnie, Loup Valley Dairy          

       
During 1999, Loup Valley Dairy began fencing parcels of land into smaller units, and providing the irrigation needed for intensively managed grazing. The concept is that grazing could mimic natural cycles by moving the animals frequently (twice a day, in some cases). In this way, the animals could fully graze a small paddock before moving on to another area. The individual parcels of land would only be grazed about once a month during the growing season. This grazing approach mimics that of the buffalo herds, which are constantly on the move, and graze each parcel of range land only once or twice a year.

Loup Valley currently covers 370 acres and supports 140 milking cows. Although there is still some need for imported feed, especially during the winter months, the dairy is moving towards a completely grass-fed approach, which will provide its own winter grazing. The results are good: milk production is comparable to conventional dairies, and the lower inputs not only help make the pastureland healthier, they also reduce the costs to the dairy. This makes it possible to provide a living to two families and supplemental income to a third, on just 370 acres.

Policy

Loup Valley Dairy Farm is committed to sustainable agriculture, using intensively managed grazing as our primary tool. We move towards this goal through a comprehensive farm plan, in which once a year, we evaluate our environmental impacts on and off-farm using life cycle assessment, a method that helps us see the full picture of our environmental impacts. Based on the life cycle assessment, We work to continually improve the environment both on and off-farm.

As a baseline, Loup Valley Dairy complies with all applicable environmental regulations, and practices pollution prevention, especially with respect to pest management and nutrient management. Loup Valley Dairy works hard to achieve a level of stewardship of the land that conserves resources and protects biodiversity values.

Loup Valley Dairy Environmental Aspects

The table below shows the environmental aspects of the Loup Valley Dairy, its related Impacts and whether they are significant, and what activities drive these environmental aspects. This list shows what aspects of farming are important from an environmental viewpoint.

Like all ISO 14000 environmental management plans, there are plans or practices in place to reduce the negative effects of the environmental aspects of the farm, with certain aspects being the target of actions every year. For this first year of operation, the Dairy has focused solely on the environmental aspects related to on-farm activities. In future, when a full life cycle assessment has been performed, the plan may include off-farm management plans.

Significance of environmental aspects is based on the following factors:

• The importance of the related environmental impact
• How frequently the activity occurs
• The time needed to correct environmental impacts
  

Environmental Regulations

Loup Valley uses herbicides to control noxious weeds, in accordance with local county requirements. Therefore, it is subject to the FIFRA (Federal Insecticides, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act) regulations governing the use, application and disposal of these substances. To the best of its knowledge, Loup valley is in compliance with these regulations.

Overall Loup Valley Environmental Goals:

The Loup Valley Dairy has the following environmental goals and objectives:

1. Eliminate confined feeding of dairy animals
2. Eliminate the use of sub-clinical antibiotics
3. Eliminate the use of artificial hormones
4. Minimize the use of grains in feeds
5. Return pasture to native grass species
6. Protect waterways from cattle access
7. Greatly reduce the use of fossil fuels
8. Minimize the use of irrigation
9. Minimize the use of off farm inputs
10. Repair and regenerate the soil quality through intensively managed grazing.
    
    

By the end of 1999, Loup Valley had reduced the confinement feeding of animals to a somewhat confined feeding of calves. Subclinical antibiotic feeding has been eliminated, as has the use of artificial hormones. The milking cows get a ration of 12 pounds of grain per day (half of a normal dairy ration). Much of Loup Valley is already native pasture. The remaining areas are managed to provide winter feed and hot season grasses. Returning pasture to native grasses requires that the areas not be grazed for nearly two years, thus progress in moving to native pastures is slow, but steady.

During the year 2000, Loup Valley planned to:

1. Upgrade irrigation and fencing to facilitate intensive grazing
   
   What they did was: Added 0.5 miles irrigation tow line in 2001, used 1.5 miles electric fences for management intensive grazing
   
2. Reduce the use of fossil fuels to half of a normal dairy operation
   
   What they did was: unclear, because fuel data was not completed
   
3. Return 10 acres of non-native pastureland to native grass species
   
   What they did was: not do this because of severe drought in Nebraska
   
4. Maintain pesticide toxic equivalents at less than half the national average for dairy farms
   
   What they did was: exceed this goal, using even less pesticide than last year
   
5. Complete data collection for full LCA of milk.
   
   What they did was: collect most of this data-some of the work fell into 2001

Action Plan for 2001

During 2001, Loup Valley plans to:

1. Reduce number of cows down to 75 to reduce grazing pressure
2. Planting farm ground back to grass
3. Trying biological control for flies (instead of pesticide)
4. Eliminating artificial fertilizer

Violations

To the best of its knowledge, Loup Valley Farm is in full compliance with the FIFRA regulations.

Contact Information

For more information, contact:

Monty Birnie
Loup Valley Dairy
Rte 1 Box 30
Callaway, NE 68825
308-836-2702
birnies@gpcom.net

This document is the annual report prepared for Loup Valley Dairy to support its participation in the Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE) Community Environmental Management System. The program is based on the ISO 14000 international environmental management system standards, but also includes a strong component of public disclosure of environmental performance. Farms participating in this program may obtain ecolabels based on a life cycle assessment of their products environmental performance.