WORLD DAIRYING NETHERLANDS Dutch dairy farmers are facing a dilemma when it comes to farm succession given the huge uncertainty in the Netherlands regarding the sustainability of the livestock sector there. Chris McCullough reports.
Future in dairying uncertain for young Dutch farmers
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any Dutch dairy farmers are planning for future generations to take over the running of the farms, but with major environmental legislation on the horizon, it is unclear whether this will lead to an enforced reduction in livestock numbers in the country. Latest figures show there are about 1.6 million dairy cows in the Netherlands, which is about one-tenth of the human population, based on 16,000 dairy farms. Overall, the Netherlands has more than 100m cattle, pigs and chickens which produce a lot of manure. This, is turn, when mixed
with urine, can produce excess nitrogen which is harmful to the environment. The Dutch government is therefore under intense pressure to introduce radical changes to curb the production of nitrogen and other emissions. There have been calls to reduce livestock numbers by up to 50% by 2030, but this has obviously not gone down well with dairy farmers. Fifth-generation farmer Trea Doornenbal runs a dairy farm with her husband Harry at Appelscha, located in Friesland, one of the main dairy-producing regions in the Netherlands. Together they have 21-year-old
A number of different breeds are included in the dairy herd.
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twins, Claudia and Jeroen, who would like to continue the family tradition of milking cows there. However, due to the uncertainty surrounding livestock numbers and emissions legislation, the future is not quite clear. Taking each day with a ‘gewoon doordoen’ attitude, which translates to ‘just keep going’, the family can only hope their farm can remain viable to operate as a business. Land The family owns 128 hectares (316 acres), with a further 20ha (40 acres) rented and another 12ha (30 acres) of grassland managed under nature restriction.
Trea Doornenbal hopes some day to hand the farm over to the younger generation.
Trea adds that four ageing, but reliable, robots milk the herd and investing money in new equipment at the moment could be a risk. She says: “There are 230 cows in the milking herd with another 120 youngstock. The main breed is Holstein Friesian, but we also have some cross-bred Fleckviehs in the mix, as well as Montbeliarde, Brown Swiss, Jersey and Viking Red cows. “Our herd has an average milk yield of 30 litres per cow per day, produced at 4.46% butterfat and 3.66% protein. The milking cows are fed indoors, but the dry cows and youngstock graze outside from April to October. “We separate the milking cows into groups of high yielding cattle and low yielding cattle, with a different feed ration formulated for each group. Usually the cows are artificially inseminated. The youngstock get inseminated twice and then they join the group with the bull.” Labour on-farm is supplied by Trea and Harry and at the weekend by their two children and Harry’s father. Milk is sold to the Friesland Campina co-operative and the family receives 37.75 euro cents per litre (29.97ppl). Trea says: “The milk price is not too bad here, but it is strange we still have the same milk price as we did
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