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vor 5 Jahren

XtraBlatt Issue 02-2018

  • Text
  • Krone
  • Machinery
  • Forage
  • Straw
  • Farmer
  • Contractor
  • Dairy
  • Bales
  • Agricultural
  • Cows

ON-FARM 1 2 Swadro TC

ON-FARM 1 2 Swadro TC 640, bought this year, goes into action. Crop is chopped with a BiG X 500 forage harvester. Karl Martin and Michael Dreher share the field work: father mows and son mostly teds. If a part-time hand can be hired, the work is rearranged because the farmer is also responsible for barn work and the book keeping. Son Michael looks after the farm biogas plant. The farm’s fulltime worker is often busy with the calves. “He is very committed in this respect and knows everything about the cows”, points out Christel Dreher who takes care of milking and the farm shop. “At the end of this year we are fitting a milking robot that should reduce our workload.” New too, will be two farm students. “We had bad experiences with our last students and for this reason it’s been some time since we’ve employed any”, says Karl Martin Dreher regretfully. “But one of the new students has actually worked here before and we therefore think motivation is very high with both.” FARM SHOP A MAGNET Some of the farm milk is bought by Arla in Allgäu. But there’s also a regular stream of customers coming to the farm shop where unpasteurised milk is sold direct to consumer via dispenser. The price is around 80 c/l and the required payment is calculated by the automat to the last millilitre. The customer feeds coins in, places a receptacle below the spout and fills this by pushing a button. When the wished-for amount is filled, the button is released, the amount due is calculated and any change returned. Plastic beakers are stacked ready – just in case customers want a dairy drink whilst collecting their order. Where customers have not brought their own container for milk, glass bottles can be bought from an adjacent dispenser. Other products on sale at the Oberwiesachhof shop include thistle oil, jams, flour, potatoes eggs, etc.: mostly all regional. “We know all the producers personally”, says Christel Dreher. There are also biscuits on sale, although these come from a wholesaler. “We want to offer our customers everything that they might need for a Sunday breakfast because we feel that no one would come for milk alone.” The farm shop is monitored by two cameras to avoid theft, although very little ware is left lying in the open, for instance hay bundles for household pets. However, it is felt that monitoring might at least discourage any vandalism. As in many other sectors of business, innovations such as direct marketing do not immediately catch-on locally. “Only a few of our customers come from the immediate vicinity. Most drive from surrounding villages. When there’s a traffic jam on the main roads to town, we get a jump in customer numbers because drivers make detours and end up driving past our shop”, explains the farmer. “Momentarily, around 40 l milk/day sell through our dispenser.” Arla pays the Drehers 35 c/l, i. e. 45c less than is earned through the farm shop. “However, the costs of the dispenser, upkeep and labour have to be considered. Compared with the processor price, the shop earns us maybe 15c/l more net.” The farm milk is not sold at any other point, such as local supermarket, because non-pasteurised milk in Germany may only be traded directly from producer to customer. Above all for children, a visit to Oberwiesachhof is exciting: some parents take the entire family as part of a cycle tour so that they can learn where the milk they drink actually comes from. The barns are open for visitors. This farming family hope in 50

3 4 this way that children stop thinking that cows are lilac, as in a popular German TV advert. Sometimes whole classes from kindergarten come by to meet the cows. Just before holidays, larger groups of older schoolchildren arrive. Next year, an open day is planned for the farm, with this event to be repeated every second or third year. MUCH MORE THAN MILK A peek into the cow barn is certainly rewarding: milkers and dry stock stand in two rows, free to move around in their respective areas. During our visit, there’s a lot of activity around the centrally situated water troughs. At the same time, big fans ventilate the area, keeping the cattle cool. Wellness is also catered for: the cows can let themselves be brushed automatically with apparatus that reminds us of a car wash. When a cow positions herself under the brushes, these groom her back and along her sides, stopping only when the cow moves away and there’s no more resistance to the brush action. The cows are kept on straw-bedded deep cubicles. “With us, every animal can lie down when they want to”, says Karl Martin Dreher. The feeding bulls are housed in the front part of the barn. These animals are reared for two years on Oberwiesachhof to produce beef, some of which is sold through the farm shop, some also delivered directly to customers. The butcher business that processes the farm-produced beef is situated 10 km away. Junior boss Michael Dreher announces planned slaughter and meat availability via Facebook and customers can directly reserve meat joints. “But milk is still our main earner”, adds farmer Dreher. As well as grass, he grows other crops for the farm’s biogas plant that has been producing electricity for 19 years. 90 % of the power produced is sold into the local supply grid with customers including a nearby spa clinic. The biogas generator has a capacity of 620 kW with production running at 390 kW this summer. An exciting new energy crop grown for feeding the plant is “mixed silphie” (Silphium perfoliatum) which, according to the German Biogas Association, has only been accepted as an EU “greening” crop in Germany in 2018. This crop has a very high and dense growth, thus preventing light reaching unwanted weeds and grasses, making weed control 1 Mixed silphie is a relatively new crop used for feeding the biogas plant on Oberwiesachhof farm. 2 At the unpasteurised milk dispenser, the customer draws milk at the touch of a button with price automatically calculated to the cent. 3 The calves are loose housed in groups and the wet feeding system records individual milk intake. 4 Michael Dreher announces via Facebook when a bull is slaughtered. The resultant meat can be reserved by customers. Some of the sausages produced are sold via farm shop dispenser. unnecessary. No field work is required except sowing and harvesting. Silphie is perennial and grows for between 20 and 30 years. Currently, the farm also grows trial areas of “legu-hafer mix” (oats/ peas/vetches/sunflower) for energy, but also forage production. The concept of “everything home-produced” achieves a new dimension on Oberwiesachhof through the biogas plant because this also supplies heating. Such a direct supply business, therefore, is no longer a relic of bygone times but instead modern reality. That such a formula still works is ably demonstrated by farmer Karl Martin Dreher and his family. « 51