Honest Cape Dairies received the ARC Nationwide Grasp Dairyman of the 12 months Award for the fourth time in 2022. Johannes Loubser spoke to Glenneis Kriel concerning the drivers of the dairy’s good fortune.
Photograph: Glenneis Kriel
Longevity. Manufacturing. Fertility. Those are the cornerstones of manufacturing at Honest Cape’s dairy farms, Welgegund and 3 Sisters, close to Durbanville within the Western Cape. An important of those is longevity, in step with Johannes Loubser, director of farming operations.
Loubser is aware of what he’s speaking about. He received the ARC Nationwide Grasp Dairyman of the 12 months Award in 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022, in addition to the Western Cape’s Grasp Dairy Farmer of the 12 months in 2012.
On the time of writing, the dairy had about 2 500 cows in milk, consisting of roughly 2 120 Holsteins, 210 Ayrshires for his or her branded programme at Woolworths, and 170 Jerseys to spice up milk solids.
Honest Cape additionally has 2 500ha of land underneath a rotation of wheat, canola and oats, in addition to 350ha of lucerne underneath irrigation.
Manufacturing
So much has modified since Loubser’s father, Eduard, began the dairy operation in 1955 with a herd of 64 Friesland cows. Loubser and his 4 brothers introduced the Honest Cape emblem in a while after deregulation in 1995.
“Milk costs have been low, so we realised we needed to have the opportunity so as to add worth to the milk. The farm to begin with equipped the outdated 7-11 stores with 1ℓ milk sachets.”
Since then, Honest Cape has prolonged its gross sales to the entire main outlets, and its product providing has grown to incorporate UHT milk, flavoured milk, yoghurt, juice, dairy truffles and butter.
“It has taken a large number of sweat, blood and dangers, however we have now controlled, through the years, to determine ourselves as a powerful and sought-after emblem,” says Loubser.
Manufacturing has grown from a couple of thousand litres to over 95 000ℓ/day, whilst yield in line with cow has higher from a median of 22ℓ/day to more or less 40ℓ/day for the Holsteins.
The Ayrshires have been offered to the farm somewhat over a decade in the past and yield about 30ℓ/cow/day, while the Jerseys on common produce 28ℓ/cow day. The cows are milked 3 times an afternoon.
In 2012, Honest Cape boasted the primary cow in South Africa to supply greater than 100ℓ/day, with 3 in their Holsteins conducting this feat after that.
“You get those ordinary cows each and every now and again. Their prime milk yields does no longer impact their longevity or well being negatively, as a result of they’ve get entry to to enough rations to lend a hand handle their situation,” says Loubser.
He issues out that the feeding of dairy cows has transform “in point of fact medical” during the last twenty years, with dairy farmers nowadays having simple get entry to to feed professionals to steer the formula of rations, lend a hand establish feeding issues, save you dietary imbalances, and stay cows in the most efficient imaginable situation.
“The feeding of dairy farm animals has transform extraordinarily actual, which is helping to scale back wastage whilst permitting farmers to maximize the productive possible in their cows. To stay issues easy, on the other hand, prime performers at Honest Cape get the similar rations as common or decrease performers in the similar productive cycle. The upper performers merely consume extra to fulfill their productive wishes,” Loubser explains.
Whilst inter-calving length and yield in line with cow will all the time be vital, Loubser issues out that the focal point has shifted to manufacturing in line with lifetime, in different phrases, the quantity of milk produced through a cow over her existence.
“It’s nice to have a cow with an above-average yield, however it method not anything if she can’t maintain it,” he explains.
In 2006, Honest Cape had its first cow that produced greater than 100 000ℓ of milk over her lifetime. That quantity has since higher to 64.
Cow convenience
Loubser identifies an higher center of attention on cow convenience and welfare in the course of the advent of cow housing as every other main contributor to yield enhancements.
Introducing cow properties to the farm is a large expense, so Loubser went to more than a few out of the country nations round 2005 to have a look at other milking methods.
He particularly favored what he noticed in Israel, connected to the truth that Israel’s climatic stipulations are very similar to that of the Swartland. This helped him make a decision to make use of an Israeli dairy specialist to lend a hand with the design in their machine.
The specialist drew up plans for cow properties, going into element at the format, orientation, measurement of booths, feed and strolling house, and effluent control.
The plans additionally incorporated the design that allowed the transfer from Honest Cape’s outdated herringbone milking parlour to a 64-cow rotary machine.
“The cow housing and milking parlour have been two of the most efficient investments we had ever made,” he says.
He explains that cow housing is helping a great deal to strengthen cow convenience, and in impact longevity and well being, through sheltering cows towards the weather: wind and chilly in iciness, and warmth in summer season. These days, the entire industrial dairies within the Swartland employ cow housing.
Whilst there was a large number of debate over time about the most efficient bedding to make use of in those methods, Honest Cape through the years settled on compost, consisting of decomposed cow manure.
Loubser explains that it’s a lot less expensive and simpler than having to move sand to the farm. The farm additionally makes use of effluent to fertilise lands underneath wheat manufacturing.
Excellent stockmanship
At the side of this, there was a better center of attention on excellent stockmanship and the manufacturing of tamer cows which can be more uncomplicated to maintain.
Loubser says dairyman Anton Starke was certainly one of his nice inspirations when he used to be nonetheless a kid.
“We visited Anton’s dairy someday and noticed essentially the most ordinary factor. His cows have been so tame that every of them went over to him for some consideration after being milked. Their tameness used to be a right away results of the truth that he used to be repeatedly with the animals, in order that they have been used to him, and the delicate approach wherein he labored with them.”
Loubser admits that dairy herds have grown too huge nowadays to pay person consideration to cows, however he feels that farmers nonetheless must make common time to stroll a few of the cows to peer for themselves that the whole thing is fine.
Loubser provides that giving calves a large number of consideration all the way through the primary couple of months after start is helping them for use to folks when they’re mature.
Cow well being
The arriving of recent and advanced virtual applied sciences introduced nice enhancements.
“I consider obviously how I complained about the truth that you might want to no longer see what used to be taking place with person cows round 2002. Some time later, I heard of era that monitored the motion of cows to lend a hand establish once they have been in warmth. These days this era is so subtle that it additionally lets in farmers to spot cows which can be probably in poor health,” says Loubser.
The era opened the doorways to synthetic insemination and higher fertility, replica, calving and cow well being control.
“Having the ability to deal with in poor health cows early is a big merit because it method the remedy could be simpler and the cow would possibly endure much less tension, which is able to negatively impact milk manufacturing, fertility and longevity.”
4 years in the past, Loubser began the use of genomic checking out at the herd to boost up genetic development and take the guesswork out of the breeding and number of animals.
He explains that younger calves are examined for characteristics similar to exploit manufacturing, longevity and well being to lend a hand him establish animals that are meant to be integrated into the herd. A prime somatic mobile rely, for example, signifies a susceptibility to mastitis.
At the side of this, sexed semen is used at the genetically awesome animals within the herd to boost up genetic development through making sure those animals handiest produce feminine offspring.
Poorer performers are inseminated with Angus genetics and their offspring are bought for just about 3 times greater than a dairy calf would fetch to the meat marketplace.
Business woes
Loubser identifies emerging enter prices and in particular load-shedding as main trade demanding situations.
“Enter prices have skyrocketed during the last few years, while milk costs have moved sideways for the previous 9 years. There was over 20 000 dairy farmers within the nation somewhat greater than a decade in the past, of which about just a thousand have survived financially.”
Loubser is taken with extremely professional farmers who’re nonetheless leaving the trade.
“Up till now, the native trade has been in a position to offer the native call for, however I don’t know for the way for much longer. The farm-gate milk value for manufacturers that has higher during the last 12 months has helped to counter escalating enter prices, however it’s not sufficient,” he says.
Honest Cape put in a 1MW sun plant between 2020 and 2021, which has helped to scale back the trade’s carbon footprint and effort utilization. Loubser issues out that, sadly, this is helping handiest all the way through the day and when there is not any load-shedding.
To additional scale back their dependence on Eskom and scale back the affect of load-shedding, the trade is investigating different exchange power provide resources, like biodigestors and wind generators.
E-mail Johannes Loubser at [email protected].