'Unbelievable how well the grass responds to digestate'

Organized for the third year in a row Boerenbusiness the Roughage Tour. Also this year we are following 10 dairy farmers throughout the Netherlands in their decisions regarding the extraction of roughage. In this series of company reports we introduce the entrepreneurs. In this third part: Jan Dirk Ubbels (photo), dairy farmer in Leewarden (Fr).

On his farm with an authentic house, Jan Dirk Ubbels, entrepreneur at the most northerly farm in the Roughage Tour, keeps 140 dairy cows. The work is completed with Jan Dirk's father. His son Tim also rolls up his sleeves, but also works partly outside the door.

The cows are milked in a herringbone parlor. In his herd, Ubbels strives for "easy and healthy cattle that can efficiently make milk from roughage". When asked how de Ubbels describes himself as an entrepreneur, he says: "as an enterprising entrepreneur who is always looking for challenges within his company". This is also clearly noticeable in the enthusiasm with which Ubbels has been participating in the Roughage Tour for three seasons now. He is very pleased with the apps and additions that the participants exchange with each other. He liked the weather station last year, because he spent less time on the soil condition. "With these weather systems, I can more accurately monitor things like moisture and precipitation on my fields, so I know when to anticipate." Ubbels liked it so much that he bought last year's system himself.

Efficient with labor
The dairy farm is located in the town of Jelsum, just outside Leeuwarden. The type of soil on which Ubels operates mainly consists of loam that is very suitable for arable farming. As a result, Ubbels regularly exchanges land with local arable farmers. The area is diverse and also has as much arable farming as dairy farming. Jelsum is partly a protected village, which is also clearly reflected in all the old head-neck-rump farms, which have often been renovated in the old style.

With 140 dairy cows and accompanying young stock, the company is actually too big for 1 person and too small for 2 people. Jan Dirk does strive for a two-man business "so you can strengthen each other and also take over each other's tasks. The most important thing is that the company is in balance with enough work and income for two people". Virtually all the agricultural work - except for the maize harvest - is also done in-house. The milk is delivered to FrieslandCampina and the milk is fed from Hoogland. Added to this is the chunk of De Heus and loose raw materials from Hoogland. 

The 2+2 dairy barn of Jan Dirk Ubbels offers space on the right for young stock and dry cows. The dairy cattle are on the left.  The Ubbels farm viewed from the road Ubbels at the lasagna grass pit, which he himself drives into the hump. Ubbels for the system which makes the gas suitable to pass through the pipelines.

Cooking and heating on green gas
In order to ensure that there is enough work for two people with the appropriate income, Ubbels decided in 2005 to build a digester for the production of electricity. In the early years, this way of producing electricity was quite attractive. However, the income from this started to decrease gradually, while the costs remained the same. Ultimately, Ubbels switched to producing gas instead of electricity in 2016. This made him one of the first dairy farmers in the Netherlands to have his digester converted. The gas produced is first upgraded to natural gas, after which it goes into the pipeline and ensures that Leeuwarden can cook on green gas. Ubbels itself spends about 1 hour loading the digester per day. In addition, he spends about a full day a month updating all the administration. 

All kinds of products go into the feed trough of the fermenter. "It's just what is rejected," says Ubbels. "All residual flows from the food industry are in principle suitable." While Ubbels is telling his story, the next truck with rejected organic material drives into the yard again. In the digester, the organic material is supplemented with daily fresh slurry from the dairy cows. In retrospect, the manure digester is not only a solution for Ubbels in terms of income and labour, the digestate that is used to fertilize the plots also has a lot of added value for him. "It is really unbelievable how well the grass responds to the digestate. The grass is much greener and also grows faster", is his experience.

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