Danish dairy farming neighbours partner up

Kjartan Poulsen, dairy farmer and chairman of the Danish Milk Producers Association, farms on the west coast of Denmark. In 1989 he began his career on a farm that he later bought, owning just 45 cows. By 1998, Poulsen entered into a business partnership with his neighbour, who at the time owned 200 cows. Today the partners milk 900 cows and farm 1,500 hectares. Both farms practice organic production.

Poulsen milks 900 cows in partnership with his neighbour. Photo supplied.

Splitting cows

The neighbours have split the cows up on the 2 farms into different milking groups. The Holstein Friesian herd averages 9,000 litres per cow per year at 4.2% butterfat and 3.4% protein. “We are milking on 2 farms. The first one has all the first-time calving cows in 2 teams. The second farm keeps all the older cows also in two teams. Team one includes cows from calving to around 100 days, and the second team is with the bulls. We do not use AI very often in Denmark,” said Poulsen, adding that both the cows and the young stock graze outside from around April until October. The cows are milked twice a day on both farms, and all of the milk produced goes to Arla, fetching the farmers approximately 43.5 euro cents (US$0.48) per litre.

The Holsteins Friesian cows yield 9,000 litres per cow per year. Photo supplied.

Cows are fed indoors as a buffer feed. Photo supplied.

Denmark’s dairy industry

Organic milk accounts for about 14% of the 5.5 billion litres of milk that Denmark produces each year. Dairy exports account for over 20% of all Danish agricultural exports, making it an important sector. Dairy exports bring in around €2 billion to Denmark’s economy each year.

A lot of silage is required on the two farms. Photo supplied.

As is seen in many other countries, the number of dairy farms in Denmark has decreased from about 6,300 dairy farms in 2005 to about 3,000 dairy farms in 2018. Denmark has a total of about 570,000 dairy cows.

Arla Foods is the biggest dairy company in the country, but there are about 30 smaller dairy companies with over 60 production plants in total.