More cows in the meadow, but less long

The percentage of cows in the meadow increased for the second year in a row in 2018, according to the provisional figures of the 2019 Agricultural Census of Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Incidentally, the number of hours that these cows are in the meadow has decreased slightly in the past year.

In 2018, 71% of the 1,6 million dairy cows in the Netherlands were on pasture, compared to 2015% in 2016 and 65. This means that the percentage for the second year increased in a row, because in 2017 this percentage was 68%. In the period from 2010 to 2015, the percentage of cows in the meadow fell from 74% to 65%. In addition, the number of dairy farms that send the cows to pasture has increased to 80%.

These preliminary figures from Statistics Netherlands also show that all dairy cows were allowed to leave the barn on approximately 77% of the dairy farms. At 3% of the companies, a part was allowed to go outside. The other companies kept the cows in stables throughout the year.

Part grazing more popular
It is striking that partial grazing is becoming increasingly popular, especially among larger farms (more than 160 dairy cows). At these dairy farms, the percentage of partial grazing has increased to 59%, compared to 53% in 2016. In 2018, 4 in 100 farms opted for this form of grazing, compared to 1 in 10 at the larger farms. The fact that part grazing is increasingly being chosen is partly because grazing can be at the expense of milk yield in high-yielding cows.

It is striking that all dairy cows that walk in the meadow, shorter be kept outside. In 2018, 1 cow was outside for 1.648 hours, compared to 2013 hours in 1.941. This decrease is partly due to an increase in scale and the increase in partial grazing. In the provinces of North and South Holland, the dairy cows spend most of their time in the pasture, but here too the grazing time is decreasing.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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