Dairy HIGH

Dairy HIGH 2 is a five-year research project which aims to identify positive outcomes for pasture-based dairy farms by reducing synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use, improve milk production efficiency from low-cost grazed pasture systems and deliver important environmental outcomes.

The environmental outcomes from decreased nitrogen fertiliser use would mean reduced nitrogen losses in soil and reduced greenhouse gas emissions evaporating into the atmosphere.

The project aims to deliver productivity and sustainability insights which could lead to significant cost savings for farmers.

Dairy HIGH (short for High Integrity Grass-fed Herds), was announced in 2020 and is a $6.5m partnership between Dairy Australia and the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA). The project has seen the construction of a purpose-built dairy at the TIA’s Dairy Research Facility at Elliott in north west Tasmania and the establishment of four new farmlets (or mini farms), to research strategies for reducing reliance on synthetic fertiliser and its impacts under real farm conditions.

The project also incorporates a range of other activities including value-adding measures for non-replacement dairy calves, dairy benchmarking, as well as pasture coaching and advanced workshops.