Lessons from the Netherlands

Dutch dairy farmers can obtain high milk yields from their cows without over reliance on expensive concentrate!

This was the key message taken home by nine dairy farmers from Northern Ireland, who along with two senior CAFRE dairying advisors, recently visited six dairy farms in the Netherlands, as part of a farmer exchange program in Europe-wide project called DAIRYMAN.  

DAIRYMAN is an inter-regional project across seven countries (supported by INTERREG IVB regional development funding), in which farmers, advisors and researchers are cooperating to share knowledge aimed at improving the sustainability of the dairy industry in Europe. The nine dairy farmers from Northern Ireland, who took part in the exchange visit, are part of a larger European-wide network of DAIRYMAN pilot farms.

The agricultural area of the Netherlands is almost twice that of Northern Ireland. However, the human population is almost ten times that in Northern Ireland, and the dairy cow population more than five times larger. Competition for land is therefore high, with prime agricultural land selling for £25,000 per acre. Milk prices are generally higher than in Northern Ireland. On one of the farms visited, the farmer was getting over 35 pence per litre. The climate is also different to Northern Ireland, warmer and with average annual rainfall only about two thirds of that here, enabling a longer growing season and better autumn harvesting conditions for forage crops.

The system of milk production on all the farms visited was similar. Cows were housed for the majority of the time and fed high quality, high dry matter silage along with maize silage. On some of the farms, cows were allowed to graze during the day whereas on others, zero grazing was practiced. Housing for dairy cows was exceptionally good, with steeply pitched roofs and curtain sided buildings providing an excellent atmosphere inside the cubicle houses.

Milk yields from forage were very high on all farms visited. Typically, farmers were achieving 10 – 14 litres per cow per day from forage on full winter rations. This was achieved through excellent quality, high dry matter silage. Dry matters of 40 percent and proteins of 16 percent were typical for silages stored in long narrow silos. Speed of use seemed to be the key to avoiding spoilage of this material. Farmers were using two metres per week in these silos. Dry matter intakes of forages alone were over 15KG per cow in most cases.

All farms had computerised feed to yield milking parlours – either robotic or conventional parlours - allowing precise targeting of feed to those cows requiring it.

Dutch farmers appeared to be very focused on the business management side of their dairy enterprises. Investment in facilities and land has led to high debt on many of the farms. Some of the farms were borrowing to a level of €2.65 per litre or £2.28 per litre. Indeed on one farm with 180 cows, the debt being carried was £3 million, much of which would be handed on to the next generation.

The Northern Ireland farmers returned with many useful ideas which they may seek to implement on their home farms. Their new target is 8,000 litres per cow at 4.4 percent BF and 3.5 percent PT with less than two tonnes of concentrate per cow…and without the debt!

The group visiting a dairy farm near Grossel in the Netherlands