Organic goat and sheep dairy in the Netherlands

The dairy sector is the largest organic sector in the Netherlands. Not only cows, but also goats and sheep are kept to produce milk and a variety of cheeses. Although a significant share of total organic dairy production is exported, domestic consumers are continuing to buy more and more Dutch organic dairy. To facilitate organic dairy farmers, Wageningen UR and Louis Bolk Institute carry out a variety of research aimed specifically at organic dairy production. The report contains sector facts, sector aspirations, current affairs and research projects

Success of a participatory research and extension programme in the Dutch organic dairy goat sector

In 2004, most organic dairy goat farms had financial problems due to a gap between the milk price paid and the cost price on farm. In 2005, a research project “BIOGEIT” was started. In 2007, the research project was combined with an extension programme. A framework was set up with 3 shells. The first shell consisted of two farmer research groups in which goat keepers worked in close cooperation with researchers on a specific theme. One research group has worked constantly on cost price optimisation and milk price. One of the activities in the farmers research group on cost price was monitoring the cost price and milk price over the years. Its objective was threefold: determining priorities for cost price optimisation, using the cost price for milk price negotiations and monitoring the project results. The cost price inclusive labour costs evolved from 58.92 euro/100 l in 2004 to 65.24 /100 l in 2009. The milk price (7% fat and protein; exclusive tax) evolved from 51 euro/100 l in 2004 to approximately 70 euro/100 l in 2012. From the year 2009 onwards, the cost price is covered by the milk price

Production and persistency of red clover (Trifolium pratense) varieties when grown in mixtures

In the Netherlands organic and conventional dairy farmers are taking an increasing interest in grass and red clover mixtures for ley pastures (cutting only). A constraint to the adoption of such mixtures is the persistency of the red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) varieties presently used in the Netherlands; Rotra, Barfiola, Violetta and Merviot. The latter being the most persistent under practical circumstances. Testing of red clover varieties in Switzerland showed a high degree of persistency of the so-called ‘mattenklee’ varieties such as Astur and Pica (Suter et al., 2004). We compared eight red clover varieties including 2 ‘mattenklee’ varieties in mixtures with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.), and a mixture containing white clover and perennial ryegrass only. Red clover mixtures out yielded the white clover mixtures by 5.4 t dry matter (DM) ha -1 . ULC 1715186 and Astur were the most productive red clover varieties. The development of the clover content of Astur showed that this variety scored highest on persistency

Roots and earthworms under grass, clover and a grass-clover mixture

White clover has a lower root biomass and a higher abundance of earthworms than grass. This might have an impact on the ecosystem services soil structure maintenance and water regulation when white clover is introduced in a grass-clover mixture. We investigated the root biomass, the abundance of earthworms and a selection of soil physical parameters in white clover, grass-clover, and grass with and without inorganic N fertilizer. The treatment with clover-only had a lower root biomass, a lower C/N-ratio of the roots, a higher abundance of earthworms, a higher number of earthworm burrows, a lower penetration resistance at the 20-30 cm soil layer and a lower proportion of crumbs in the soil, than the other treatments. This confirms the literature that pure clover stimulates the ecosystem services of water regulation, but is less conducive to soil structure maintenance. However, the grass-clover mixture did not differ significantly from the grass treatments, but differed from pure clover in a higher percentage of soil crumbs. We infer that, when clover is introduced in grassland to reduce the reliance on inorganic fertilizer, the mixture of grass and clover maintains the positive impact of grass roots on soil structure but only may show a positive effect of clover - only on water regulation with a higher clover percentage in the dry matter than in our experiment

Effect of vitamin E and selenium and different types of milk on health and growth of organic goat kids

Newborn goat kids are low in blood levels of vitamin E and selenium. Not known is how this affects health and growth of the kids. In a study on an organic farm 40 kids were allotted to 4 groups. Parenteral administration of 0.5 ml vitamin E and selenium solution (treated groups) or 0.5 ml salt solution (placebo) at the day of birth was combined with powdered full goat milk or goat milk replacer during the raising period. The milk-groups were housed in one group. Housing conditions and additional feed were the same for all groups. Blood samples were taken at days 0, 31 and 102. Kids were weighed at blood sampling days and at day 14. Health and medical treatments were recorded by the farmer. In goat milk selenium content was 116 µg/kg and vitamin E was 1.5 mg/kg while milk replacer contained 682 µg/kg and 102.7 mg/kg resp. Health did not differ between groups and number of treatments were low. No kids were lost till day 31 indicating a good farm management. Blood GSH-Px and vitamin E values in treated groups and in milk replacer groups were significantly higher than in placebo groups and goat milk groups at day 31 but not at day 102. The average daily gain in the first 14 days, the first 31 days and over the whole period of 102 days was 181, 181 and 165 grams. Treated groups gained on averages 10 grams more a day than the placebo groups, milk groups did not differ in daily weight gain. Although blood levels are different between treated and between milk groups, no relevant differences in health and weight occurred under well managed farm conditions

Soil biota in grassland, its ecosystem services and the impact of management

In the search for sustainable grassland systems, self-regulating processes in the soil become increasingly important. Soil biota play an important role in these processes and in the provision of various ecosystem services. For grassland systems important ecosystem services are supply of nutrients, soil structure maintenance and water retention. For developing and optimising sustainable grassland systems, insight is needed into the mechanisms by which soil biota are influenced by management and what it means for the functioning of the soil-plant system. Interactions between soil and plants can be represented by a cyclic conceptual framework including plant/roots, soil biota and soil properties. The challenge for sustainable grassland is to allow this cycle to function optimally with a minimum of external inputs. In these systems the soil food web is probably bacterial-based with a high density of earthworms. The impacts of grassland management on soil biota are discussed on the basis of two cases: use of grass-clover mixtures and a ley-arable crop rotation versus permanent grassland and continuous arable land

Bi-cropping fodder maize in an existing (grass)clover sward

Organic cultivation of fodder maize is still considered to be difficult. Weed pressure, soil structure degradation during harvest and low nutrient efficiency are some of the common problems. Directly sowing maize in a (grass)clover sward using special-ized drilling machines can solve these problems. In a bi-cropping experiment under organic conditions we found similar yields as the reference treatment (ploughing) when the maize was sown in a clover sward, the roots of the remaining sward were cut one week after sowing and an additional fertiliser was applied

Lammeren grazen op een veldkavel

Veel geitenbedrijven hebben een beperkt huiskavel. Als de lammeren ook op het huiskavel geweid worden, wordt de beweidingruimte voor de melkgevende geiten nog krapper. Een oplossing zou zijn om de lammeren van huis te laten grazen. Sander Koster van Gerbrande State heeft al jarenlang goede ervaringen met het dag en nacht weiden van lammeren op afstand. Afgelopen jaar hebben ook de families Wanders en Tuenter hun lammeren naar tevredenheid op een veldkavel geweid. In dit bioKennisbericht zijn hun ervaringen op een rij gezet

Grassland management, soil biota and ecosystem services in sandy soils

Recent legislative restrictions on the use of fertilizers and irrigation, and a quest for sustainable farming systems have drawn renewed attention to the functioning of the soil and the ecosystem services it provides. Soil biota play an important role in the provision of these ecosystem services, which may be influenced by grassland management. The two objectives of this thesis were 1) to gain insight into the effect of different grassland management measures on soil biota in sandy soils; and 2) to explore the effect of grassland management on the ecosystem services provided by soil biota

Sturen in het rantsoen

De kostprijs voor biologische geitenmelk bestond in 2007 voor 59% uit kosten voor ruwvoeder en krachtvoeder. Om dit aandeel terug te dringen en tegelijkertijd aan de eis van 100% biologisch voer te voldoen, hebben veel geitenhouders zich in eerste instantie geconcentreerd op de ruwvoerkwaliteit. Veel geitenhouders proberen nu ook de krachtvoercomponent beter in de vingers te krijgen. De kennis die opgedaan is in de geitenhouderij blijkt voor een groot deel ook bruikbaar te zijn in de melkveehouderij