PHOTO: JAN WILLEM VAN VLIET
PHOTO: JAN WILLEM VAN VLIET
FARM VISIT ▶▶▶
Ongoing challenge to use grass optimally
Wout Huijzer and Nely Schutte maintain a tight pasturing schedule. They aim to make the most of their 100% grass-oriented farm.
BY WIJNAND HOGENKAMP, EDITOR OF BOERDERIJ “W Profile
Wout Huijzer (55) and Nely Schutte (55) have a dairy farm in Zeerijp, the Netherlands, which they run with their son Martijn (19). On their farm they have 125 dairy and calf cows and 40 youngstock. The 60 hectares of land consists of 100% grass land and they milk an average of 8,500 kilograms of milk per cow with a milk fat percentage of 4.48% and a milk protein percentage of 3.61%.
hen the cows go outside, they need to start eating right away.” This is what Wout Huijzer and Nely Schutte want to achieve. The dry cows that have
just gone outside set the example. Just like the dairy cows, they get an extra strip of fresh grass every day. “They need to maintain this rhythm, even when they are dry.” The cows walk towards the fresh strip of grass and start eating immediately, almost one behind the other.
Pasturing starts in mid-March and ends somewhere in No- vember, depending on the weather. In the first month, the dairy cows only go outside during the day. “We use about 20 out of the 52 available hectares for this purpose. We need to
move quickly to get the different growth stages going. If we wait too long to get the cows outside, the grass gets too long for pasturing,” says Wout. And that, of course, is not why the pair aim for as much pasturing as possible. The spring grass needs to be used straight away for maximum yield. Wout and Nely say it’s an error in reasoning to think all the grass should be mowed before pasturing starts. “Why mow everything for silage first and feed it next? When the cows start pasturing here, we get the yield of the first grass in our bank account at the beginning of April,” says Nely.
Yield The cows’ annual ration is 25% fresh grass, 50% silage grass and the other 25% consists of concentrates. In absolute num- bers, this amounts to 202,000 kilograms of dry matter from fresh grass. “Silaging costs us 10 cents per kilogram of dry matter. Compared to a farm that keeps its cows inside, it saves us € 20,000. If we use the first cut of those 20 hectares for silage, that still costs us € 4,000.” This way, they reduce feeding costs and produce milk at a lower-than-average over- all cost. “We try to make money by optimising our fresh grass management.”
Plot layout The farm’s plot layout is ideal. The cows have access to about one hectare of fresh grass every day, depending on what’s available. Because all plots are 250 metres deep, the calcula- tions are easy. Add 40 metres every day and divide that into two times 20 metres, so the cows get a fresh strip of grass af- ter every milking. The back wire is moved with a delay, so that the entrance to the pasture with the fresh strip of grass can be kept close to the land that’s been grazed already. The cows first walk a few steps through the grazed grass, so they can ‘wipe their feet’. That way, the fresh strip is minimally soiled and stays fresh and tasty. To keep the cows walking, their wa- ter trough is located at the back of the plot. “It’s easier and more logical to install a drainpipe along the track, but that would result in the cows staying on one side of the strip. With the entrance along the track and the trough at the other side, we keep the animals moving,” Wout explains.
The dairy farm is based in Zeerijp in the Netherlands. 18 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 7, 2020
Rounds once a week Once a week Wout measures his plots with a grass-level me- ter. The data he obtains are sent to the computer. The farm
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