When the European Union dropped its milk quota, milk production rocketed 3.5% in Germany, but when the demand from China and Russia fell in 2015 Europe began swimming in milk.
Although commentary around the milk crisis is that production needs to drop, many farmers say increasing production is the only thing they can do to keep their heads above water. This holds true for two German dairy farmers. However their plans to increase milk production might be where their similarities end. Although the two farms are located within a stone’s throw of each other, they are chalk and cheese when it comes to their operations largely because of locale.
Jorg Rossenbach, with his wife and son, runs a 15ha family farm 80km northeast of Bonn. The farm has been in the family for 120 years, and in the face of the European dairy crisis the family are holding strong and making plans to expand their business. They’ve invested heavily in new technologies and added to their herd numbers.
The 150 milking cows are housed in barns equipped with two robotic milkers while the dry cows are put out to graze or housed in another barn. Both barns have wooden slat floors that allow for excrement collection along with feeding bails where grass silage is fed ad-lib.
Where supplement feeding of compound feeds is seen in NZ as a luxury, especially when milk prices are low, in Germany it is a necessity in housed dairy farms. Bought-in feed is even more of a necessity for Jorg.
Cornelia Flatten’s love of dairying is set to take her to farm ownership in the next few years. Photo: Inoussa Maiga
The farm is made up of their home block, which is home to their 150 cows, and the arable block where they grow rape, cereals and corn silage. Although they have the ability to grow crops, this presents a different set of issues.
“We normally have about 500mm of rainfall each year, this year we had over half of that before summer, so it’s been a really wet year.”
Despite the wet conditions they have averaged 8-12 tonnes of wheat per hectare this year. They save on fertiliser costs by transporting manure from the home farm and spreading it on the arable block because they don’t have any effluent storage on the home farm.
Grass and corn silage grown on the arable block is brought back to the home farm to be fed.
In a stark contrast to the Rossenbach farm, both the milking and dry cow sheds on the Flatten farm are simpler and don’t boast new technology or robotic milkers, despite many farmers in Germany buying into them. Instead the Flattens have a manually operated five-aside herringbone and have no immediate plans to upgrade their systems, saying other things will take priority when the milk price improves.
Although there is ample opportunity for Bernd to expand the arable operation, he wants to persevere with the milk price situation.
“I don’t want to convert fully to arable. The cows become like your children, you work with them every day.”
A driving force behind the family’s perseverance with the industry is Bernd’s youngest daughter, 24-year-old DMK Dairy Queen Cornelia Flatten, who has plans to take over the farm and continue to make a living for herself and her family from their land.
Cornelia is passionate about dairying and although she has concerns about the current situation, she remains optimistic about the industry’s future and place in the world market. This is perhaps what won her DMK Dairy Queen 2016. DMK, one of the largest milk processors in Germany, crowns a Dairy Queen each year to represent the co-operative, a role she doesn’t take lightly.
Cornelia is gearing up to take over the farm from her parents in the next few years and has big plans including expanding herd numbers and ramping up milk production.
She says dairy products are widely used by consumers and believes the market will eventually correct itself. Industry commentary suggests the market will stay where it is until late into 2017, meaning these farmers will be challenged with remaining in business until then.
Farm facts:
Flatten Family
Owners: Flatten family
Location: Swisttal, Germany (Swisttal, midwest Germany, close to Bonn)
Farm dairy: Five-aside herringbone
Area: 20ha home farm, 110ha arable block
Cows: 150 crossbred – Simmentals, Brown Swiss and Friesian
Farm facts:
Rossenbach family
Owners: Rossenbach family
Location: Denklingen, Germany (Denklingen, mid-west Germany, close to Cologne)
Area: 15ha
Farm dairy: Two robotic milkers
Cows: 150 crossbred – Simmentals, Brown Swiss and Friesian
Cheyenne Stein travelled to Bonn, Germany in July to the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) congress where she attended the Alltech-Young Leaders award boot camp and main IFAJ conference.
