The History of Hamra Farm
Hamra Farm was purchased in 1894 to “carry out studies of milk production” and to make Hamra a modern agricultural holding with first-class livestock.
In 1899 it was possible for Hamra to start selling “guaranteed tubercle-free” milk in Stockholm, thus solving a major health problem. Hamra became a show farm in 1901 with 150 cows and built what is commonly known as the Big barn.
In 1920, milking machines were installed for the entire herd and Hamra became the first of its type in Europe. Since 1928, Hamra’s herd has been a breeding herd for the new Swedish breed “Swedish Red and White” or SRB.
Research and development on the farm
Hamra held its first scientific symposium in 1963. Around the same time, the Hydropuls milking machine system was launched.
A loose-housing barn was built in 1985 for 100 cows, with the R&D barn specially designed to suit testing operations. At the same time, it was established that Hamra’s herd should be about 185 cows divided equally between SRB and Swedish Holstein, SLB.
Robotic milker makes an entrance
In 1998, the company’s voluntary milking system or VMS was introduced to milk producers and the press. Four years later, the VMS barn was built and opened.
In recent years, Hamra has acquired more acreage and has thus been able to increase its herd to about 230 milking cows.
Today, Harma has four main objectives:
- Hamra Farm should be DeLaval’s demonstration and display farm
- Hamra Farm should be the centre for DeLaval’s testing of new products and systems
- Hamra Farm should be the centre for internal training operations
- Harma Farm should be a profitable farm
