Description

Practice abstract

Hanny and Hielke de Rooij of Farm “De Heerlijkheid” in the Netherlands manage approximately 180 dairy cows along with associated young stock on approximately 100 hectares of land, predominantly permanent grasslands. In addition to the 90 hectares of grasslands, there are 10 hectares of maize and 1 hectare of alfalfa. Both automation and diversification are found on the farm. Some years ago, the farmers introduced automatic milking. Their main challenge is to maximize grazing for the cows on their relatively small grazing platform of 22 hectares in combination with robotic milking. To achieve this, they divided the herd into two groups. The first group is allowed to graze and goes through the pasture gate around 04:00 in the morning to plot 1, while the second group goes out around 06:00 to plot 2. The first group returns inside around 09:00/09:30, and the second group can stay outside until about 12:00. This two-group method has resulted in increased grazing hours for all cows compared to the previous single-group situation, as it encouraged more individual animal behaviour and grazing time. It needed, however, some perseverance as it was not easy to realise.  

Diversity is another important theme for the farmers. They are incorporating more herbs into their grasslands with the aim of having at least 15 different herbs on the herb-rich pastures. Direct sowing is done into the grasslands using a simple 3-meter seeder with a small amount of seed, both in spring and fall. They choose a high sowing frequency and a low amount of seed due to the variable success of sowing.  

Overall, automation and diversification have proven successful on the farm, demonstrating the importance of perseverance and adaptability in agricultural practices. 

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