DREAMS COME TRUE

Young Danish farmer buys own dairy farm

By Chris McCullough

FOR YOUNG DANISH FARMER, JESPER TOFT BITSCH, technology has meant running his own dairy farm is now a dream come true.

Embarking on a career in dairy farming in Canada is commonly achieved by young farmers when they inherit or take over running the family farm.

It’s the same story in many countries around the world, but it’s also a tough scenario for those who want to run their own farm and haven’t got a family legacy to inherit. A number of hurdles can arise, including finding the finances to buy or rent the dairy farm and animals, and depending on the country, the milk quota.

Globally, dairy farms are desperate for skilled labour, which is in short supply, while technology companies try to fill the gap with the latest advancements in robots and software.

Sometimes, older generations are slow to grab hold of technology and put off making any big investments if they have no clear succession plan in place.

Enter Toft Bitsch, a determined 31-year-old farmer who desperately wanted to own his own dairy farm. After spending a few years managing other dairy farms, he experienced a breakthrough.

He had trained as a farmer at the Agroskolen and Bygholm Agricultural School in 2012 and accepted a job as the feeding manager on a farm with 500 cows the following year. From there, he was feeding manager at another farm with 340 cows while working to become a qualified agricultural economist.

By 2018, his aspirations of running his own farm fell into place when a 150-hectare farm came up for sale.

“That was the start of my journey being my own boss as a dairy farmer,” says Toft Bitsch. “Armed with a detailed business plan, I was able to secure enough funding to purchase the farm and start to change things around on the original dairy system.”

One of the biggest changes he made was converting the farm to organic status to garner higher milk prices.

Toft Bitsch started off with 160 cows and in 2020 built a new barn to accommodate more animals. Since then, he has increased the number of cows to 220, yielding 12,200 kilograms per cow. The barn also has space for dry cows and calving pens.

The new barn was built almost perpendicular to the original, which today houses the younger cows. Three Lely Astronaut A5 milking robots – two in the old barn and one in the new – each milk 65 cows.

“I am budgeting for 60 milking cows per robot, but they can easily handle 65, so we have slightly increased the number of cows,” says Toft Bitsch.

The new barn cost 3.2 million Danish Krone ($630,000 CDN) to build and contains 112 cubicles plus a section for calving pens and sick bays.

“All the cubicles are bedded with sand as we find it keeps the beds much drier,” says Toft Bitsch. “I was very familiar with using sand on the other farms I worked on; therefore it was an easy decision to use it on my farm as well.”

The composition of the feed for the cows is quite important as the young farmer strives to use only locally grown protein, cutting down the emissions associated with shipping soybeans.

“We do not use soybeans as they are usually imported from overseas and it is not always clear if they are grown in a sustainable way.

“Our milk is also supplied to the dairy company, Thiese, which some years ago decided that their producers should stop using soybeans in feed.

“Instead, we use locally grown grass, field beans, canola, and lupine in our rations. They do not fit in very well in a crop rotation for milk producers who grow a lot of clover grass and maize, but it is easily grown by neighbours and is therefore not transported over long distances.”

Both organic and conventional milk producers are now phasing out soybeans as Danish dairy processors no longer accept milk from cows fed GMO soybeans and non-GMO soybeans are expensive.

Toft Bitsch also strives for less than 17 per cent protein in his ration, a level Danish producers voluntarily agreed to three years ago with the goal of reducing overall ammonia emissions.

“The agreement was put in place to prevent [government] regulation,” he adds.

“We all have our responsibilities to try and reduce GHG emissions but as a young farmer, I feel more open to suggestions in how to do so. Advances in technology and management decisions are there to help us so we should embrace them.”

Farm Profile

Farm Name: Sdr. Troelstrup

Location: Aulum, Denmark

Number of Cows: 220

Farm Size: 150 hectares

Rented Land: Additional 25 hectares

Average Yield: 12,700 kgs per cow, per year

TMR Protein: Grass, field beans, canola, lupine

TMR Protein Level: Below 17 per cent

Using fans to increase airflow in the barn can help cows manage heat stress. Photo Credit: Farm & Food Care Photograph Library