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The city of Kolding, in southern Denmark is the venue for this year’s European Dairy Farmers (EDF) annual congress.
The EDF is an organisation of dairy farmers from across Europe that meet up to share costs of production figures and share knowledge and information on dairy farming. There are 11 EDF members from Ireland.
Day one of the event explained the make-up of the Danish dairy industry. Ida Storm of the Danish Cattle Farmers Organisation explained that in 1978 there was 1.1m dairy cows in Denmark. Today, there are 600,000.
Increase
Despite the near 50% fall in cow numbers, overall milk production has actually increased over the last 40 years.
Average milk yield per cow is one of the highest in the world, with milk recording results showing the average yield to be 10,660kg of energy corrected milk. Over 90% of Danish cows are milk recorded.
Two-thirds of all dairy produced in Denmark is exported and the dairy sector is made up co-operatives.
Arla, the only milk processor in Denmark, is 100% farmer-owned, so too is Viking Genetics, the main AI company and LandboSyd, the dairy advisory and accountancy company. The Danes are big fans of co-operatives.
By far and away the stand-out figure on Danish farms is the debt level. Average debt level on Danish dairy farms is €20,000 per cow.
This debt is based on land purchase, and constructing facilities such as cow barns, slurry storage, farm machinery, milking equipment and purchasing cows.
The Danish farmers in the EDF are highly geared, with 89% of the value of their farms borrowed.
High production
According to Steffi Wille-Sonk of EDF, Danish farmers have no choice but to chase high production per cow in order to offset some of the very high fixed costs associated with high levels of debt.
Efficiency seems to be the buzzword at this congress, with all Danish farmers talking about their level of feed conversion efficiency and labour use efficiency.
Farm visits will commence tomorrow afternoon.
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