The cost of importing fodder for Almarai’s six dairy farms, which have 105,000 cows, and poultry operations in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is estimated to cost €81.3m in 2018.
In 2015, a new law in Saudi Arabia meant that the country had to cease growing alfalfa and other grasses by 2018 for feeding its livestock and, as of November this year, Almarai now imports 100% of its fodder.
Third-party suppliers
Almarai is now importing fodder from a number of different locations, including the US, Argentina, Spain and Eastern Europe – from either third-party suppliers or from the Almarai-run farms.
Almarai has steadily increased the amount of fodder it has been importing over the last number of years.
It imported 52% of its fodder in 2016, 75% in 2017 and now imports 100%.
Since 2014, fodder imports have cost the company €436m.
47,000 head of cattle – on one farm
In 2017, the Irish Farmers Journal visited one of Almarai’s six farms – the Al Badiah farm.
In total, it has 47,000 dairy stock, 22,500 of which are milking cows.
The cows are milked four times a day with a rapid-exit milking parlour and the Holstein Freisian cows produce on average 14,500l of milk.
It produces 960,000l of milk every day, equivalent to 350m litres a year.
The farm manager of Al Badiah is Tipperary man Tony Gavin.
He told the Irish Farmers Journal that in order to help conserve water and to comply with the new law in 2015, Almarai purchased farms in north and south America and found fodder suppliers in eastern Europe.
“The main ingredients for the farm would be alfalfa and maize corn," said Tony.
"All the maize corn is bought in from the US by boat and then our own trucks bring it in here.
The alfalfa, up to now, has been all grown locally, mostly up in Al Jouf [on the Jordanian border]. That’s between 500 and 800 miles away, and transported down here,” he said.
Read more
Pictures and podcast: milking 22,500 cows for Almarai in the Saudi desert
Almarai dairy farm in numbers
In pictures: inside Almarai's dairy farm in the Saudi desert
The cost of importing fodder for Almarai’s six dairy farms, which have 105,000 cows, and poultry operations in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is estimated to cost €81.3m in 2018.
In 2015, a new law in Saudi Arabia meant that the country had to cease growing alfalfa and other grasses by 2018 for feeding its livestock and, as of November this year, Almarai now imports 100% of its fodder.
Third-party suppliers
Almarai is now importing fodder from a number of different locations, including the US, Argentina, Spain and Eastern Europe – from either third-party suppliers or from the Almarai-run farms.
Almarai has steadily increased the amount of fodder it has been importing over the last number of years.
It imported 52% of its fodder in 2016, 75% in 2017 and now imports 100%.
Since 2014, fodder imports have cost the company €436m.
47,000 head of cattle – on one farm
In 2017, the Irish Farmers Journal visited one of Almarai’s six farms – the Al Badiah farm.
In total, it has 47,000 dairy stock, 22,500 of which are milking cows.
The cows are milked four times a day with a rapid-exit milking parlour and the Holstein Freisian cows produce on average 14,500l of milk.
It produces 960,000l of milk every day, equivalent to 350m litres a year.
The farm manager of Al Badiah is Tipperary man Tony Gavin.
He told the Irish Farmers Journal that in order to help conserve water and to comply with the new law in 2015, Almarai purchased farms in north and south America and found fodder suppliers in eastern Europe.
“The main ingredients for the farm would be alfalfa and maize corn," said Tony.
"All the maize corn is bought in from the US by boat and then our own trucks bring it in here.
The alfalfa, up to now, has been all grown locally, mostly up in Al Jouf [on the Jordanian border]. That’s between 500 and 800 miles away, and transported down here,” he said.
Read more
Pictures and podcast: milking 22,500 cows for Almarai in the Saudi desert
Almarai dairy farm in numbers
In pictures: inside Almarai's dairy farm in the Saudi desert
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