A "Carbon Hoofprint" in the right direction

Snap shot

At Hopkins River Pastoral, managing the environment goes hand-in-hand with managing the business.

The company, owned by the Maconochie family, developed an innovative environmental assurance program called "Carbon Hoofprint", which involves re-using a waste material (cattle manure), recycling it into a nutrient dense humus fertisiler for pastures, and reducing their net emissions by improving soil carbon levels.

The "Carbon Hoofprint" program is not only good for business, but its also benefiting the environment.

Key points

• Hopkins River Pastoral has three separate businesses: a cattle grazing property, a grainfed beef feedlot. and a beef brand, Hopkins River Beef

• It aims to measure the emissions from its beef production through its "Carbon Hoofprint" program, and is working to offset these and sequester carbon

• It runs a major composting initiative, which produces a nutrient dense humus which improves plant health and the soil's ability to store carbon

• Hopkins River Beef customers include supermarkets, high profile chefs, a couple of hundred restaurants, and recently many online customers

A "Carbon Hoofprint" in the right direction

For west Victorian beef company, Hopkins River Pastoral, environmental management is all part of its risk management approach to farming.

It's an approach that takes into account business and climate risk, often at the same time.

Towards this, Hopkins River Pastoral - a family owned company managed by father, Sandy, and son, David Maconochie - now estimates carbon emissions and offsets from its beef enterprise to ensure its environmentally sustainable.

Carbon Hoofprint

Hopkins River Pastoral has trademarked the name "Carbon Hoofprint", which encapsulates these processes. The "Carbon Hoofprint" logo is on the packaging of Hopkins River Beef, its premium beef brand.

The "Carbon Hoofprint" is undoubtedly a successful marketing initiative: chefs and buyers - which include a major supermarket chain, a couple of hundred restaurants, pubs, clubs and caterers and many online customers - can be assured that when they buy Hopkins River Beef, they are doing the right thing by the land.

By estimating and tracking Hopkins River Pastoral's emissions over its three separate businesses - cattle grazing, grainfed feeding, and its beef brand - the Maconochies have been able to highlight the areas where they can reduce and offset emissions.

To calculate Hopkins River Pastoral's "Carbon Hoofprint", worst case scenario figures are used to calculate the cattle's methane emissions and, ultimately, their total emissions.

All in all, Hopkins River Pastoral has estimated that it now stores twice as much carbon as it emits, a ratio which it now aims to significantly increase.

Composting manure

Key within Hopkins River Pastoral's emissions offset activities is its manure composting business, which transforms raw manure into a product that is not only a useful fertiliser, but which improves the ability of plants and soil to store carbon.

Hopkins River Pastoral set up the composting system during 2009, as an environmental initiative, but also as a way of reducing the feedlot's growing manure stockpile.

According to David Maconochie, it was an easy decision to make once they had researched the logistics. "It's economical for us to do it and we'll see the benefits through the farming system. It's a win win."

One tonne of the end product - microbial humus or humified compost - is equivalent to 10 tonnes of raw manure in terms of pasture benefits. This also allows for efficient transportation and it is also good news for the plants.

"The more you improve the health of the soil, the easier it is for plants to grow," says Sandy.

"They also absorb nutrients more easily, reducing the need for fertilisers and chemicals."

Each year from October until May, Hopkins River Pastoral staff members collect manure from the feedlot stockpile and blend it with carbon sources, including straw to attain a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 30:1, the key to making humus.

The mixture is then laid out in two-metre wide rows - windrows - which David says are shaped like giant, triangular Toblerone chocolate bars.

The rows are currently 50 and 100 metres long, composting 2500 tonnes of manure. Soon they'll be 150 metres long and will compost 5000 tones.

Each day, someone from Hopkins River Pastoral checks the rows for temperature, carbon dioxide and moisture. If the temperature is over 60 degrees, or the Co2 is over 10 per cent, they'll need to turn the rows.

Keeping the Co2 under 10 percent is important as it allows the microbes in the mixture to breathe, changing it from an anaerobic product to an aerobic one.

The compost process takes 10 weeks from start to finish.

After week three, the raw materials have broken down into an organic matter and special covers are placed over the rows to keep the rain out but still allow the product to breathe.

Over the next seven weeks, the matter needs regular attention monitoring the relationship of moisture, Co2 and temperature.

During this process, the nitrogen and carbon react to one another in such a way that the energy breaks down the manure and straw into microbial humus, which is then ready for use on farm.

The microbial humus helps release nutrients in the soil and encourages plants to grow. Plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere into the soil, and so the process of soil carbon sequestration has begun.

Carbon sequestration

Building carbon in the soil - carbon sequestration - has significant benefits for the environment, and allows Hopkins River Pastoral to balance their carbon cycle.

As well as using humus on its own land, Hopkins Rivers Pastoral also provides it to other farmers who supply cattle and grain to the feedlot.

But Sandy makes it clear that, to make the most of the humus, it needs to be incorporated into an efficient, well managed grazing system, which prevents the paddocks from being overgrazed.

"As you move the cattle, the plant is given the chance to regenerate," says Sandy. "If you expose soil to open air you'll compromise soil health and risk losing carbon from the soil."

Hopkins River Pastoral would like to see a future system for trading carbon. "Those that store more carbon than they emit would have the ability to offset carbon from other industries," says Sandy.

"That would encourage land owners to embrace best practice management. For those who store more carbon than they emit there would be the opportunity to offset other industries as well."

For now, however, it's enough that the composting initiative is benefiting Hopkins River Pastoral's own grazing land, its suppliers and the environment.