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Last week, I was very fortunate to be able to take part in a farm innovation visit to the Netherlands.
This CAFRE-led scheme has been running for over a year and allows groups of local farmers to visit different farms in Britain or on the European continent. The objective is to give farmers the opportunity to see first-hand innovative technology that could be useful on their home farms.
There has been a good number of visits already, covering a wide variety of different technologies.
CAFRE staff plan the visits and these are advertised in the press and social media. If you are interested in a particular visit you have to fill out an online application. Your application is scored using set criteria, and the highest-scoring applications are offered places.
Before going on the trip, CAFRE also holds an induction meeting where they go into a little more detail on the itinerary and what is expected from you.
Interested
I have been interested in a few of these visits but they always seemed to be taking place at a time that didn’t suit me.
However, before Christmas I noticed advertisements for this trip to the Netherlands at the end of January. As this is a quiet time of year on the farm, I thought that it was worth applying for.
The main objective of this visit was to look at reducing antibiotics in rearing dairy-bred calves for beef production. This appealed to me because of my ABP Blade calf enterprise.
I was offered a place, which I accepted, and we headed off to the Netherlands last week.
It was a very packed itinerary with several farm visits, plus a trip to a research facility, a veterinary practice and a few presentations from various experts.
There was a heavy focus on calf health and how to reduce the use of antibiotics. With the Netherlands having a large veal industry, they put a lot of effort into maintaining a high health status among calves.
65,000 calves
At the veterinary practice, we listened to a presentation from a vet who later that day brought us to visit two farms involved with his practice. In total, the practice had 650 veal farms on their books. With an average of 1,000 calves per farm, they have a massive 65,000 calves to look after.
The farms were very impressive, if you could call them farms – they were much more like factories.
There is total connection within the process. The farmer basically works for a company which provides the calves, feed and advice. In return, the farmer provides the housing and labour.
It’s definitely a well-run machine with the vet at the centre of the operation (regular visits and advice). The accommodation was state-of-the-art and very focused on calf health and welfare.
On one farm (a 23ac unit) the farmer had just built a new calf house costing €1.2m, and he reckoned that he would have it paid for in 15 years, and that included a wage for himself and his employees. The whole thing was very impressive, but I didn’t come on the trip to be blown away – I needed some kind of take-home message.
Stood out
The one thing that stood out to me was the importance of the first three weeks in the calf’s life.
The calf needs to get adequate colostrum within the first couple of hours and then it needs to be well fed and looked after for the first 21 days. This is critical to lifetime performance and reducing the need for antibiotic treatment in later life.
At home in our calf house, the calves come to us at three weeks of age, so it is hard for us to have much control over what way they are looked after in the first three weeks.
This is where the next take-home message comes in – I think that we need a fully connected supply chain so that the calf producer is rewarded for doing a good job. The recent tie-up between Dale Farm and ABP is potentially a move in the right direction.
Recommend
In conclusion, having enjoyed these visits and learned a lot, I would definitely recommend these CAFRE farm innovation visits to others.
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