water is heated with solar panels, and the plan is to use solar panels to provide the energy for the 72 fans in the barn. The manure is used to fertilise the farm. There, the necessary roughage in the form of soybeans, maize, winter wheat and oats is grown on 1,800 ha. The dairy branch of the company tells the agricultural branch what the demand is for feed, and that determines in which batch this is made. “This allows both production units to be analysed separately, so we can con- stantly compare and evaluate ourselves,” said Bonamico. The development of a system based on blockchain technology for traceability of milk is a challenge. This is done in collaboration with the University of Rio Cuarto. “The product that reaches the consumer contributes to sustainability and well-being: well-being in the sense of well-being for animals, the soil, the people who work in the company and for society as a whole,” Bonamico summarises.
Brazil: Agrindus Agrindus S.A. is one of the three largest milk producers in Bra- zil. It is located in the state of São Paulo. Director Roberto Jank is also vice president of the Brazilian Association of Dairy Farmers (Leite Brasil). Its management is in the hands of the third and fourth generations of the family and focuses on sustainable production. Jank started by stating that the greatest achievement is bio- technological innovation: “We are doing this with the same biological assets, cows and soil, but with a more efficient way of working.” Genomics is a great concept for Agrindus, which has been
working for years with sexed semen, in vitro fertilisation and a constant production of cows with high-quality genetics for its own company, but it also sells animals to third parties. “Our goal is to earn about 3–4 cents extra per litre of milk per year with control over genetics,” said Jank. Milking takes place 24 hours a day with a production of approximately 23 million litres per year. “Animal welfare is essential for the 1,800 cows we keep in a tropical climate. That is why we put them all in the cubicle with a wind tunnel that ensures an optimal cli- mate. The cows can also walk freely, but they eat and rest on sand beds. We communicate this to our customers because we think it is important to translate what animal welfare is for consumers, who often do not understand what a happy cow is,” explains Jank. Sustainability is achieved, among other things, by the
South America overview
There are no exact figures available on the number of dairy farms in South America. In Brazil alone, in 2017, according to estimates by the Brazilian Institute of Statistics (IBGE), there were 1.2 million dairy farmers. Together, they had about 16 million head of dairy cattle. Within the group of small dairy farms, often with only a few cows, a lot of “informal milk” is produced that is sold at home or is processed into cheese. According to the IBGE, the aver- age production is 5 litres of milk per cow per day, but there are professional farms that produce 30 litres or more per cow per day, which is about the average in the Netherlands.
▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 8, No. 3, 2021 19
IMBO Agro- pecuaria milks 660 cows with six DeLaval milk- ing robots. Milk production now averages 34 kg per day. In four years’ time, that should be 40 kg.
PHOTO: IMBO AGROPECUARIA
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