Description
Gérard Grandin, an organic dairy farmer, partially milks his cows once-a-day, stops milking 2 months in winter and rears calves with nurse cows.
Mr. Grandin has a 100% grass system on 58 ha of permanent grassland. The average stocking rate is 1.4 LU / ha with an average production of 4000 L / cow. The diet is based on grass and hay only. Since this year he produces certified hay milk. He uses no concentrate, therefore feeding costs are very low.
The nurse cows are housed for 15 days together with the adopted calves and then they are turned out for grazing. A better health state with reduced risk of veal diseases was observed by turning out early young animals to graze. The nurse cows are mixed with the heifers in order to have only two herds to manage: the dairy cows and the replacement heifers.
Cross-breeding is used to get resilient animals adapted to the local environment. The farm has two bulls (this year Jersey and Angus), but depending on the year artificial insemination can be preferred. Herd management follows grass growth, with compact calving in March-April and cows being culled in the fall.
Grass management: 37 ha are accessible to dairy cows, i.e. 1.7 LU/ha on the milking platform and 5 ha are added for exceptional drought episode. Cows are moved every day to a new paddock, heifers every 3 or 4 days.
By adopting this strategy, the management choices of the farmer are driven by the working time rather than by production objectives. Mr. Grandin keeps improving his grass management to achieve grassland perpetuation and to provide ecosystem services (biodiversity, avoidance of soil erosion, carbon sequestration).
