The Herbst dairy farm

Solar power panels on the cow barn at the Herbst dairy in Breitenau, Westerwald, Germany

Nadine Schwind (an Agriculture student on farm placement) and Denise Herbst

Inside the cow barn

A maize silage clamp

The farm produces milk for the 'Hochwald' dairy company

The Herbst family operates a dairy near the village of Breitenau, not far from Koblenz in Germany. The farm covers 180 hectares on a number of sites apart from the main farm, and there are 120 ha of pasture and grassland as well as 30 ha of wheat and 30 ha of maize.

Holstein-Friesian cows are used in the milking herd and a small number of Limousin beef cattle are fed. Artificial insemination is used for the older dairy cows after they are mated as heifers to H-F bulls. The herd of heifers is grazed at a section of the property about 2 kilometres from the main farm.

The cows in the dairy herd are allowed access to pasture land in the warmer months and are otherwise housed in a large, high-ceiling barn. The sheds on this farm mirror the changes in animal housing over the last 20 years with the older sheds having low ceilings and dark interiors and the newer sheds being more light and airy. The remaining beef cattle are housed in the oldest shed and it was much less pleasant to visit than the new sheds (see photograph of new shed).

Cows calve for the first time at 24-26 months and calving takes place all year round. The average cow in the herd will have around 6 lactations but the oldest resident cow at present is 15 years old, an outstanding individual. The herd production average is just above 10000 L. The diet for the cows includes silage (whole plant maize and pasture), wheat, soybean meal, spent brewers' grains and fresh pasture. The herd is milked in a 4-a-side parallel parlour which, according to Frau Herbst, needs replacing. The family is considering a system utilising 2 robotic milking stations.

The current Herbsts are the second generation to run the farm, with the original dairy commencing with 20 cows in the older sheds over 25 years ago. Any increase in herd size now is limited by the old-style milking parlour.

The mother cow beef cattle operation is being discontinued as returns from beef do not justify the labour and feed inputs.

No bio gas production is undertaken on this farm as the slurry is applied to the extensive pasture area as well as the composted straw and manure solid wastes. As is usual on farms in this area, a large photovoltaic array was in place on the roof of the cow barn.

My thanks to my guides to the farm, Denise Herbst and Nadine Schwind, a student of Agriculture at a university near Berlin, who spoke perfect English with a lilting Irish accent.