Dairy Catchment Assessment Tool

Knowledge of dairy farming practices and nutrient-related water quality issues at the farm and paddock scale have been well characterised by the dairy industry; however, interactions between local scales and outcomes at a catchment scale are less well known.

On-farm dairy practices often result in localised and catchment-scale impacts on water quality. The linkage between on-farm activities (e.g. fertilizer practices) and off-farm environmental changes (e.g. water quality) are frequently assumed, poorly characterised and rarely quantified. This lack of connectivity between on-farm activities and off-farm impacts has implications for on-farm and catchment-wide investment strategies, management activities and success of proposed management actions.

In order to better target investment strategies for industry, prioritise management activities, and target improvements in natural resources, a risk-based dairy catchment assessment tool is detailed here.

The UDC tool is a tier based assessment which provides a framework for identifying priority catchments, linking on-farm activities to changes in water quality at local and catchment scales, and designing programs for change. The tool is intended to assist users in better understanding interactions between dairy farming and catchments in their own region.

The UDC tool should be used as part of an interactive process, engaging a range of stakeholders, as outlined on the Stakeholder Participation page.