Description
Description of the innovation
The farm from Twan Linssen is located in the southern part of the Netherlands. His 80 dairy cows are fully grass fed by fresh grass and hay. In the winter time the roughage in the ration consists of hay. Twan Linssen got the opportunity to built a completely new cowshed. The building is specially designed for the hay ration.
Inside the cowshed is an installation to dry the grass and two big storages for the hay. The installation works with hot air collected underneath the roof. A special crane on a railing system connected to the top of the building is used for moving the grass into the dryer and to feed the hay to the cows.
Advantages
- No problems with weather conditions making hay
- Constant quality roughage
- Hay is less heavy
- Pleasant food for healthy cows
Disadvantages
- Increasing cost price
- More labour
- The hay dryer takes up a lot of space
The hay dryer
The hay dryer is a simple and fairly inexpensive idea for farmers who want to produce hay milk. With a hay dryer you can make hay without worrying about the rain. Hay has many advantages over grass silage: it is less heavy and more pleasant to distribute and there is no danger of listeriosis or contamination of cheeses with butyric germs. The grass that goes into the hay dryer can even be dried wet, but the drying time must be extended by about 2 days. The sun, on the other hand, is free of charge, so it is wise to let the grass dry a little longer on the land.
The innovation is successful on the farm because :
- The farmers conviction of the positive effect of feeding hay
- The relocation of the farm
- The system for drying and feeding the hay was proven before in Austria
