MENSCHEN TITLE THEME HAY
MENSCHEN TITLE THEME HAY INSTEAD OF SILAGE The local farmers profit directly from this high added value that can bring them, according to product quality, up to 0.50 euro/l for their milk, a price that farmers in other parts of Europe can only dream about currently. However, this reward demands its tribute in terms of input. Jeremy Guyat is one of five farmers that together manage a herd of around 450 cows. In France this kind of agricultural organization is called a “gaec”. In summer, the cows graze the fields around the farms in the village of Deservillers. In total, Jeremy Guyat and his colleagues farm 395 ha of which 290 ha is pasture and 105 ha arable. When the animals can’t get out to pasture because of the weather, the AOP regulations mean they can only be offered hay as forage. Silage is not allowed as feed and the concentrate ration is also strictly limited. Under such conditions, an especially high quality of forage is crucial. Two cuts of grass are possible on the shallow stony soils around the Jura massif. Grass dominates the rotation in this hilly landscape, with grain grown on only very few areas where the main cereals are wheat giving an average 8t/ha and barley (4t/ha). The straw is used as litter directly in the region. 1 SPECIAL BREEDS Jeremy Guyat and his colleagues cut their grass with a Krone EasyCut mower. The grass is then turned once and windrowed twice. He bales around 190 ha with his own Comprima roundbaler and the hay on the remainder of the grassland is collected with a forage wagon. Such forage can still have a very high moisture content so, for improving the hay quality and thus the chance of saving on concentrate requirements, the gaec decided to invest in the building of a drying barn in 2013. In the enclosed upper floor directly under the 3000 m 2 roof, the sunshine heats the air. Fans then transport the heated air under the lower floor where it is blown through slits in the around 1000 m 2 flooring up into the hay. “The ratio of 3:1, i.e. three parts roof area to one part drying floor, is ideal for drying the hay”, states Jeremy Guyat. “It takes only around a week to dry lucerne from a moisture content of 50 % down to 10 % in this way.” He finds that the drying barn has definitely improved the quality of the harvested hay. The energy content in the forage has increased so much that he’s been able to save around 3.8 kg concentrate feed per cow. The ration is always a mix of first and second cut hay plus around 4 kg concentrate feed. The breeds milked are Montbéliard and Simmental. Farmers wanting to be considered as deliverers of milk for Comté cheese are restricted to just two breeds in their respective herds. In the past, this gaec has won numerous awards for the breeding of its Montbéliard cows. The breed is based on a cross of Comtois and Simmental Fleckvieh. Its milk is rich in protein 8
2 3 and relatively low in fat. This gaec retains a proportion of heifer calves as herd replacements. Others are reared and sold in-calf because Montbéliard is the most important French export breed. Weight limit for slaughter animals is 410 kg with the meat marketed, just like the milk, in small shops throughout the region. GOOD COMMUNITY The animals lie in deep straw in a large open barn. This litter is partly produced by gaec members, although some is also bought-in. Jeremy Guyat milks his herd twice daily, catching up with the rest of the farm work in-between. The gaec owns the required forage harvesting machinery, although for all other work, such as bringing out the dung, or seed drilling, members use equipment from the CUMA organization. CUMA is an acronym from the French term for agricultural materials handling cooperative, equivalent to machinery rings in other parts of Europe. President of the local CUMA is Gilles Marechal. Another six people are employed, including an office worker and three machinery driver/ operators. Certain machinery, such as the large square baler, may only be operated by a CUMA driver. The society CUMA de la Montagne includes 62 farmers from the region and president Gilles Marechal is proud how smoothly the organization nowadays works. Every Monday, farmers meet in the large CUMA conference room and plan machinery application for the coming week. In the fleet are several tractors from Fendt and 1 Jeremy Guyat puts great value on good forage quality. Towards this, he built a hay drying barn in 2013. 2 Gilles Marechal (l) is president and Daniel Ronot (r) deputy of the local machinery sharing society. For the purchase of new machinery they work closely with dealer Lucien Bruner (middle). 3 Yves Cuinet: a farmer producing French Comté cheese in a small plant in Flagey. John Deere as well as Krone square and round balers. Says Gilles Marechal: “The large square baler is especially in demand because the integrated weighing unit enables immediate recording of the hay harvest.” Within CUMA, Gilles Guyat is responsible for purchasing balers and declares: ”More important than the purchase price for our decisions is the subsequent forage quality.” If a farmer wants to use a square baler, the request is made at the Monday meeting. Functioning of this system requires discipline and respect from all members, especially during the busy harvest time. “However, over the years a well-functioning organization has developed amongst our members. The machinery links all of us in our daily tasks.” 9
