In sum, dairy factories create serious new environmental problems, and exacerbate old ones. In rotational grazing, the daily forage requirement for cattle is met by dividing pastures into smaller paddocks and moving animals every 12 hours to 3 days. With a sufficient number of paddocks in the system, each paddock will be rested between 15 and 40 days, depending on forage regrowth before regrazing. This system allows cattle to do much more for themselves to produce milk, compared to confinement feeding. A new book from the ag school at University of California at Davis offers case studies of rotational grazing on 34 farms in Maine, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
Feed is a major cost of dairying.
It costs up to six times less to feed animals on pasture than to feed them in confinement, because of savings in feed, machinery use and repair, fuel, labor and veterinary costs due to improved herd health. Furthermore, he points out, cows in pasture show improved reproductive performance and therefore more profitability. Reduced soil erosion on the farm 24 to 31 percent. The community becomes more self-reliant, using existing human and natural resources rather than purchased inputs that drain capital from the community. Two ways of making milk.