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Farm/dairy name: Stienenhof Dairy, The Netherlands
Owners: Harold and Jacqueline Custers-Keursten
No of dairy cows: 100 milking cows
Breed of cows: Holstein Frisian with 80 % black/white and 20 % red/white
Milking systems: 2 x DeLaval voluntary milking system VMS
Number of milkings per day: 2.7 to 2.8
“We plan to achieve our production increase with good management, feeding, breeding, high cow comfort and most of all our pleasure of working with cows.”
Harold and Jacqueline Custers-Keursten run a typical Dutch family farm. “We have two children; 19 month old daughter Britt and a one month old Jorn. We own the farm together and do most of the work ourselves,” says Harold. Jacqueline works off the farm for 20 hours a week. The farm has a KKM certificate which is a Dutch quality standard for milk producers signifying high quality standards in hygiene, food safety, animal treatment, animal welfare and the environment. Both owners are members of an automatic milking study group and an agricultural association. Harold is also a member of the board of the regional Campina (dairy company) division.
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Stienenhof Dairy has been operating with two DeLaval voluntary milking system VMS solutions since 2001. The operation utilises two cow groups and no production groups, so each group is similar. The dairy’s milk quota is 1 081 000 kilograms and production over 305 days is 9.538 kg with 4.38 percent fat and 3.53 percent protein. The milk’s average somatic cell count is 160 000 and the total bacteria count is 9 000/ml. Milk is delivered to a milk processing and marketing cooperative in the Netherlands called Campina, once every three days.
The herd’s daily ration is fed with a PMR consisting of 7.3 kg maize, 7.3 kg grass, two kg mixture of Soya, rape seed scrap and wheat plus 1.2 kg of cob mix (CCM). A maximum eight kg of the allocated concentrate is based on lactation state. A maximum six kg of concentrate is used in the DeLaval VMS box and the rest goes to feeding stations located in the loose house barn between the cubicles. The milking cows are fed once a day while the young stock is fed once every two days.
The farm works with 60 hectares of which Harold and Jacqueline own 55 hectares. The land has 30 hectares allocated to grassland, 20 hectares in maize, two hectares in sugar beets and three hectares are leased out. Field sowing and harvesting is done by a contractor. Manure is kept in 1800 cubic meter slurry pits. It is used on the land but local regulations do not allow the use of manure on sand from September 1 to February 1. The farm also spreads a nitrogenous fertilizer.
On average, the farm contains 105 milking cows and 10 dry cows. The herd’s average age is four years with 30 percent in first lactation, 30 percent in second and 40 percent in third and higher lactations. The average lactation is 340 days with 150 to 200 average days in milk and a 400 day calving interval. The 70 head young stock on Stienenhof Dairy includes 35 calves under one year old and 35 one to two year old heifers. The age at first calving is around two years and the replacement rate is 30 percent.
Harold is responsible for the farm’s daily decisions and strategic decisions are made together with his wife.
Stienenhof uses a loose housing barn with special facilities for cow comfort such as an insulated roof, an open stable with manual wind shields and canvas. The cows enjoy two rotating DeLaval cow comfort brushes and rubber DeLaval cow comfort mats with foamed polyurethane underlay in the cubicles and sawdust. The young-stock is also housed in a loose house barn.
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Stienenhof Dairy will soon be milking 1.5 million kg of milk with its two VMS units. “We plan to achieve our production increase with good management, feeding, breeding, high cow comfort and most of all our pleasure of working with cows,” concludes Harold.
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