Cows feeding at the dairy farm
Where the redwoods meet the sea in Northern California’s Humboldt and Del Norte counties, Blake and Stephanie Alexandre, fourth-generation dairy farmers, received a $750,000 grant from CDFA to implement an Alternative Manure Management Program.
Stephanie Alexandre’s interest in the Alternative Manure Management Program was in part because of her family’s desire to minimize their environmental impact.
“The depth of our commitment—to family tradition, to our EcoDairy farming practice, and to providing consistent quality from our single‑origin farms — is matched only by our commitment to the environment,” Said Alexandre.
Alexandre Dairy constructed a compost-bedded pack barn as transitional housing for 800 young dairy animals, in which approximately 1,400 young stock will be rotated annually. The project will reduce GHG emissions by 9,572 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and divert approximately 4 million gallons of manure water from the current flush system. The compost-bedded pack barn has also resulted in a more efficient method of solid collection and storage of manure.
The ability for Alexandre Dairy to produce its own compost while minimizing the creation of GHG emissions adds value to the farm. The Alexandre family believes that the success of this project will encourage other pasture-based dairy farmers in the region and throughout California to consider similar upgrades to their facilities.
The Alexandres also received funding from the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s Healthy Soils Program to apply pack-barn compost across its pastures, which allows for increased organic matter and carbon sequestration. The compost from the barn is applied to pastures during the summer to reduce the potential for water quality contamination through overland flows later in the year.
Buildling at the dairy farm