Working in protocols provides structure in a dairy farm

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 the ninth part Sander Vijverberg from Strijen (ZH)

Vijverberg is participating in the for the first time this year Boerenbusiness Roughage tour. As a new participant, he hopes to learn from fellow dairy farmers and to compare their performance. Vijverberg is a fanatic roughage grower himself and not afraid to try new things. For example, he is growing field beans for the second year and different varieties of maize and grass are being tried. Strijen is a village in the South Holland island of Hoekse Waard. The area is characterized by the houses built on or against the dikes. Also the vast landscape where the clay fields are plowed in the winter months, waiting for the new growing season to start again.

The ideal area for dairy cattle
As Vijverberg himself describes it, he does business in the ideal area. "Apart from a number of large dairy farms, there is little competition and I work with two arable farmers, to whose farms I can sell manure and place maize". Vijverberg is also satisfied with the quality of the soil.

The work at the company is arranged by Sander, together with his wife. Sander's father also visits regularly to help out at the company. The family originally comes from near The Hague, where Sander's father still lives at the parental company. "The pregnant heifers are grazed there. From the rest of the fodder that is harvested there, bales are made that are driven home". The milk of the Vijverberg family is supplied to FrieslandCampina and since 2006 De Heus has been feeding it.

Certainly not a key man
Vijverberg describes himself best as a 'protocol farmer': "I am certainly not a key man and sitting on the tractor all day does not make me happy. We do the mowing, tedding and raking ourselves, but the rest is almost everything out to the contractor". With 170 dairy cows and accompanying young stock, there is plenty to do every day for Sander and his wife. "At a certain point I got stuck in my work and some things were left behind. To deal with this, we started the Schippers Hycare program and are really seeing results. The quality of our drinking water has increased enormously. and we always have clean drinking troughs without deposits or mucus from the pipes. It also runs much better with the calves by working cleanly and according to protocols."

The group loft of the calves. These are fed with a drinking machine.

The lofts can be sprinkled in from the attic.

The first part of the stable. The heifers, which are walking in the photo on the right, are kept in a separate group and are milked on a robot.

The robot on which the heifers are milked.

On the left is the newest part of the stable. The high roof is clearly visible in the photo. According to Vijverberg, this gives the cows a lot of space and air.

The Lely feeding robot doing one of its many rounds.

On the left is a section of young stock. The dairy cows walk here on the right in the newest part of the barn.

The dairy cows are milked here on the other two milking robots.

Sander's biggest hobby at the company: Hoof trimming. The cows can be easily selected via the robots, so that lame cows can reach the trimming box quickly and easily.

Here you can see the demo setup of the Lely feeding robot, about which Vijverberg is very satisfied and plans to have a permanent setup built.

The food can be prepared in the compartments. The space in the test set-up is somewhat limited, which means that feed still has to be prepared several times a week. With a permanent set-up, work can be done in an even more structured way.

The last bit of field beans that was left. This year, Vijverberg will further increase its acreage to feed more field beans.

The program also includes a module for hoof trimming. "That is my biggest hobby. I trim all the cows myself, whereby I do the cows on Monday afternoon at 80 and 220 days and just before drying off and all problem cases immediately when possible. With the app that comes with the program, I have the state of the hoof health is clearly visible and I know how things are going on my farm".

Working with markers gives a head start in breeding
Vijverberg about his breeding strategy: "In the past there was a lot of breeding for show cows. Today our breeding goal is to breed good utility cows with a lot of milk. For this we also use Genomics bulls and we have all calves marked. So take a DNA sample, so that we can make choices earlier in keeping calves. In the past, the levels were under pressure, but things are now moving in the right direction."

Almost all the land is located around the company, which means that work can be done quickly and efficiently. "With the manure, we can do everything with drag hoses and silage is fast, because there is little travel time." The pits are all stored in trench silos and Vijverberg is meticulous about the silage process. In addition to maize and grass, field beans have also been grown for two years. Vijverberg is very pleased with the field beans: "It is very healthy feed and the cows respond well to it. For next year I want to grow more field beans because of the ridiculously high feed prices".

Big fan of the feeding robot
In the yard of the Vijverberg family there is still a demo setup of the Lely Vector feeding robot. The system is scheduled to be installed during the year. With a larger feed kitchen and a better installation of augers, Vijverberg is convinced of saving labor and time, while his dairy cows are fed more frequently. "With a U-cutter I can then prepare the blocks for several days, which makes structured work even better."

Ronald Smit

Intern at the Boerenbusiness Roughage tour

r.smith@boerenbusiness. Nl

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