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We definitely inherited the passion for cows and farming from our parents.
The three of us spend a lot of time in the shed from a very early age
and we took part in cattle shows presenting calves when we were kids too.
I think that’s where all the passion and fascination for cows comes from, and also because we treat each cow individually
and not as a number. That’s what our parents taught us here on this farm.
My sister, my father and myself are all trained as qualified AI technicians.
This means we can select the right sires for our pedigree herd and breed each individual cow accordingly to our targets.
That’s very important to us.
We are milking three times a day and achieving 11,000 litres per cow on average
with 3.8% fat und 3.4% protein.
My sister Cathrin makes homemade cheese from our own milk and my sister Dorothee
is mainly responsible for the herd management and the milking of the cows.
Last year we opened a creamery on the farm where we process and market our homemade cheese.
Our target is to increase the added value and to create a local product with our milk
Because the demand for local products is growing in our region.
Naturally, the milking system plays a significant role in providing high quality milk to the creamery
in order to achieve the best results. Molkerei zu liefern und das Beste rauszuholen.
When I was in Ireland, I was fascinated to see cows all coming to the (Dairymaster) milking parlour themselves.
The milking was done in no time, you didn’t hear any squawking of clusters and you had a very good view of all the cows.
It’s a very simple and easy way of milking cows.
We decided to put in a 20 unit Swing-Over parlour with Swiftflo Bailing because we also wanted to feed the cows in the parlour .
Before we changed over to this parlour, we always had problems with clusters that were falling off
but since we moved into this parlour, we don’t have that problem anymore. For faster loading and better positioning of the cows, we also decided to put in the swiftflo bailing system
so that the cows enter the parlour quickly and don’t stop when walking into the parlour.
This way you always have the right amount of cows on each side of the parlour.
Cows get used it very quickly and position themselves nicely in the bailing system. You won’t even notice it when you are milking.
When you are changing groups, the swiftflo bailing moves up. Two cows can exit Und beim Gruppenwechsel fährt das System nach oben und zwei Kühe können
the parlour side by side. While you are changing the groups on
one side you have enough time to milk the cows on the other
or clean them and prepare them before you milk the next side.
We retro-fitted the weighall milkmeters
and the Auto-ID system because we wanted to be able to draft cows automatically.
That’s very important for us and we’d really miss it no if we didn’t have it.
For example when we have to sort out cows for hoof trimming,
or Drying-off or pregnancy checks…
Then the drafting gate separates them automatically.
We have lots of trainees on the farm
and we have external staff milking in the evenings. In order to monitor the milk yield
and keep an eye on whether cows are sick, we have installed milk meters.
Overall, we aim to achieve maximum lifetime-performance.
Ideally the cows should reach 50,000 litres before they leave the farm.
At the moment we are achieving 46,000 litres, which is fine but I would like to improve on that a bit more.
So overall we like to achieve good lifetime performance here on the farm.
I have to say, out of all tasks here on the farm, I like the milking the most. I really enjoy it!
And if I am supposed to hand this over to someone else, I guess I would miss it a lot.
I like to be in control and see each animal. That’s why I enjoy milking so much
because you see every cow every day.