Pennsylvania’s NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) set a goal of 40 feed management plan applications this year and they have already received 43 applications! This is a great start to a program that has so much potential to help farmers and the environment. The overall goal of the program is to adjust rations and feeding procedures on the farm in order to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in the feed. When less of these nutrients are fed to the animals less ends up in the manure. Therefore, if the manure does happen to make its way to a local water way it will have less of an impact on local water quality and the Chesapeake Bay overall. The plan is written by a certified nutritionists and that nutritionist then has to follow up with the farm quarterly to make sure the plan is being implemented and make any adjustments to the plan.
Although there are a lot of environmental benefits to having a feed management plan there are also economic benefits to the farmer. The first year of the contract a farmer can get $2,000 per group of animals and they can have up to five groups on the farm so that farm could receive $10,000 the first year to cover the cost of the plan writing and implementation. There is also money available for the second and third year of the contract, although the most money is allocated for the first year. Also, it has been shown that farmers that follow a reduced nitrogen and phosphorus ration tend to have lower feed costs and if implemented correctly the cows can actually produce more milk than they did on a conventional ration.
So why aren’t more than 43 farmers involved in this program? For one, it is a new program that many farmers don’t even know exists so there is still a lot of work to do to bring attention to it. Two, the fear of losing milk production is always a concern when rations are adjusted. Lastly, this type of plan takes a consistently high level of management to implement well on a farm. It takes attention to the details every day, which can be a big change to some producers. However, I think a plan could be developed to work into any farm situation and the benefits of a few small adjustments could be great.
