Questions for Bartele Holtrop
'Margin on milk important, turnover growth less'
If animal rights are introduced, this means that the cows must be housed and given more concentrates. In 2013, Bartele Holtrop started his campaign to prevent animal rights. On the eve of the phosphate rights system, he is milking 120 Jersey cows. How is Holtrop doing and how does he see the future?
Bartele Holtrop, alias Farmer Bart, decided in 2013 to start his own dairy farm together with his wife. A conscious choice, in order to be able to set up a company that suits him. In order to do this, it was crucial that there were no animal rights.
The threat of animal rights made it dangerous to start a new business. How have you been since then?
"In 2013, we decided to set up our own company. In December 2013, we registered with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) and in 2014 we traveled to Denmark to select 120 heifers of the Jersey breed. I did research beforehand. and it turned out that it was better to buy them younger than to import older animals. If we had started milking in 2014, we would also have had to lease quota. That is partly why we started milking in March 2015. Between March and On July 2, 2015, 110 animals had a calf. Because we had a lot of calves on the farm at that time, we received rights for 127 animals. We were very lucky with this. I know plenty of examples where exactly the opposite happened."
Did you foresee that animal rights would be introduced?
"No, certainly not. Coincidentally, the Jersey comes out neatly within the phosphate rights. Thick, expensive milk for every kilo of phosphate, but we were not convinced that rights would come. The choice for the Jersey variety is therefore independent of that Friesian cows actually fit better in this region, but there are not enough of them. What we want is a nature-driven company. At the same time, you see that mainly small cows are used in grazing countries (such as New Zealand and Ireland). more efficient and lighter, which automatically brought us to the Jersey, moreover, this breed is still widely used for breeding, and it is easier to improve the herd."
Have the animals been able to live up to expectations?
"From the studies that we did beforehand, it emerged that it should be easy to achieve a milk production of 5.000 liters. This was true for all barn systems in the Netherlands and Denmark. Now we know that if you have a milk production of 4.500 liters (Jersey milk, 500 kilos of milk solids) in a grass system, you are doing it right. It means that we produce less than we had in mind. Later on, experience, also from Grandpa's milking lists, showed that we produce about as much as Grandpa's Frisian cows. To clarify: we do not use concentrates and no fertilizer."
Were there more things that you had thought up in advance, but turned out differently?
"Initially, we supplied conventional milk to FrieslandCampina. We thought we could keep more cows on 1 hectare with a conventional farm, and thus earn more than an organic farm. After six months, however, we realized that we could do better. We could switch to a higher organic milk price, because we missed a lot of calculated yield with our way of farming."
"Just assume that you quickly lose a third yield without fertilizer and concentrates. A conventional dairy farmer gets about 12 tons of dry matter from 1 hectare, but we achieved 9 tons of dry matter from 1 hectare. In 2015 with the supply of conventional milk to FrieslandCampina, in 2016 we produced organic milk for 'Boerenland' (FrieslandCampina) and we made the switch to Rouveen in 2017. We switched to organic just before the milk price fell in 2016. The switch to Rouveen has to do with the cheese that we make together. We have built up a brand, which has been well received, and is now growing further under Rouveen. We are currently looking at whether biologically dynamic is a good step."
Can you make a profit, even though everything didn't turn out as planned?
"This is the first year that we 'breakeven'. We had already wanted to do that the first year, but that is not realistic. On average, 3 years is taken as the starting point in SMEs and I am proud that we have achieved that Next year we will earn money, partly because we have kept an eye on the environment and dared to switch."
"From an economic point of view, we have a low-cost strategy. Milking is done with a meadow milk truck, so we can milk all plots (including those remotely). We also work with a spring calving herd. Part of the herd is dry during the winter months. We are now milking 60 of them and we can expect the calving wave from February, so that the high-yielding animals can optimally follow the growth in grass. The inspiration for this comes from Ireland and New Zealand."
What role does having a good strategy play in business operations?
"It helps that we have enough phosphate rights; that gives us peace of mind. We have the space to do business and come up with fun things. The first year we learned to count pennies, but by starting for ourselves, I got the room to determine your own strategy. Defining your main goal creates a clear course and provides a sharp framework. There may well be things with which you can convert more, but that does not suit us. It is about converting grass into expensive grass as cheaply as possible. milk."
What do the future plans for the company look like?
"We have a healthy company, 2 young boys and a third child on the way. It is important for the boys that we run well, if they want they must seize an opportunity to do business themselves. We are not giving them this company, because we have experienced for themselves that you become more creative by starting your own business. Our aim is to keep this company running stable and not to grow much bigger. You can build a large company with a lot of capital, but that is no guarantee for your pension. sees that the value development of money is declining too quickly and that is a shame."
"We also want to support several farms that will later become the property of the one who will run them, and we want to receive a monthly payment for that during our retirement. It is a bit like the system of 'share milking' in New Zealand. This is also more interesting for our pension. This will not happen in the next 10 years. We are focusing on the margin and less on the turnover."
What has been the biggest challenge in realizing this company in recent years?
"Physically it is not that difficult, psychologically it is more difficult. Everyone has an opinion about what you do. There is probably still a lot of talk, but when I stopped asking: 'Have you heard anything about us? gossip too. We spar a lot with our Master Mind Club. It contains 3 like-minded people who do the same as we do. They have also started new. It helps that someone tells you that it will be okay or will go well, and that you can refine within your well-defined main goal."
Herman van den Pol
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