XtraBlatt Issue 02-2017

It’s almost all in the family on this
farm with (from l.) the future sonin-law
Jonathan Brossler Gérard,
Laurence, Noémie and Arnaud Cassin.
The Cassin family dairy farm lies in
northwest France, more precisely in
Coron some 80 km east of Nantes. On our
arrival, a few cows stood in pens around
the farmhouse, a bitch with three whelps
lay at the door. With its light colour and
low form, the house had a maritime look
about it. Direct on the farm road are the
barns for milk cows and calves. Alongside,
some tractors stand with cultivation implements.
That’s the first impression. This farm has
been in family hands since 1968 with the
two children Noémie and Arnaud taking
over as managers in 2013. Around 170 ha
are farmed. This includes 55 ha maize, 25
ha grass seed multiplication crops and 45
to 50 ha cereals, mainly barley. “The soil is
actually not especially suitable for grain,”
explains Arnaud Cassin. Maximum grain
harvest is 7.5 t/ha. With forage maize the
dry matter yield is around 10 to 15 t/ha.
The quality fluctuates so much that the
cereal grains are usually all used for feed.
The rest of the farm area comprises pasture.
In part, grass is sometimes sown as
catch crop on the arable land.
FORAGE HARVEST
An agricultural contractor undertakes
the maize and cereal harvests while mowing
and carting home a portion of the
forage is for the most part a family affair.
With three tractors from New Holland
and Deutz-Fahr, a Deutz-Fahr telescopic
loader and a Krone round baler, the grass
harvest can be left to the family. Around
900 bales of grass silage are usually made
with an average 100 bales of hay and
900 of straw. The remaining machinery
for all the work: e.g. further round balers,
one with cutterhead, an eight-rotor
turner from Krone, a Monosem drill, tipping
trailer and slurry tanker from Jeantil
have been bought by the family with the
help of a purchasing syndicate (Cuma in
French) over the dealership Service Agri.
Four neighbouring farms are involved in
this Cuma. Some of these machines are
already over 10 years old. The Cuma also
offers equipment for tube silage. On the
other hand, biogas production plays no
role in this region. “Our slurry is all spread
on our fields. At a distance of 15 km, the
nearest biogas plant is too far for us,”
says Arnaud Cassin.
Normally, silage grass is mowed twice. If
the weather allows, a third cut is possible.
“However, we prefer to graze the areas
then. The quality of the grass is not good
enough,” explains father Gérard Cassin.
Feed legumes such as lucerne don’t play
any role on the Cassin farm. “The soil here
is too acid and too dry,” says the senior boss.
Irrigation is too dear to consider, he adds.
“We are completely dependent on rain. This
year it was very dry, and we certainly notice
that,” explains mother Laurence Cassin. Because
of the mild temperatures the whole
year, the family has no problems with frost,
e.g. frozen water pipes. “Seldom do temperatures
sink below -5°C,” she adds.
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