In July 2023, members of the Dairy Farmers Association (DFA) of Haryana, India, mainly young farmers, visited the Netherlands. The aim of the study tour was to compare Dutch dairy farming, feeding and development with practices on farms in India.
With a full program, we visited dairy companies such as Denkavit, Sprayfo (Trouw Nutrition), CRV, Trioliet and JOZ/Fullwood. We also held training activities and workshops on CowSignals®, feeding and health on dairy farms in Oenkerk (DTC), Hengelo (De Marke) and Leusden (Farm Visit). Excellent presentations about milk replacers, feeding systems, genetics, reproduction and sensor technology were given during the visits to these companies and organizations. Thanks to the Dutch Dairy Centre, a real matchmaking with seven different Dutch companies took place at the Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden.
The members of the Dairy Farmers Association were inspired by the professional way of farming. They learned about calf rearing, health control, feed quality and milk quality. The importance of grass/grazing and fodder production (silage) in the Netherlands was a real eye-opener for the Indian farmers. The efficiency and automation on the dairy farms were also of great interest to the members of DFA, with the milking robots and the Total Mix Ration (TMR) feeders being of particular interest. Most automation solutions meet a particular need for Dutch dairy farmers, so we discussed how to convert lessons learned into feasible practices in India.
We discussed these topics during the week, with thanks to the translator and team leader Poras Mehla from DFA Haryana.
For more information, please contact Ad Merks.
N.B. Last month, team leader and Secretary-General of DFA Haryana, Poras Mehla, received the “Farmer Award” from the Confederation of Indian Industries and the Government of Haryana. HollandDoor congratulates him on his achievement and success with his own dairy farm in Haryana!
