XtraBlatt Issue 02-2017

MENSCHEN INTERNATIONAL
CALVES KEPT ON
The 130 cows get a silage mix of maize,
grass and long stem hay as well as chopped
barley straw and purchased mineral
feed. Cows are housed in two cubicle barns.
A third barn with 100 places is under construction.
“The lactating cows stay indoors all
the time, only dry cows and youngstock get
out to grass here,” says Gérard Cassin.
In total, 270 of the farm’s milkers are
Holstein Friesian. Their female calves are
always retained. “If we want to sell later
on there’s always a buyer,” adds the senior
boss. The male calves are also kept on
the farm. After about two years these are
handed on to a dealer. “He comes onto the
farm in the old-fashioned way. We bargain
on the spot over a price before he takes the
animals away,” explains Arnaud Cassin.
Milking is twice a day and takes two hours
a time through a 2x10 herringbone with
four people involved, the rest of the family
taking care of feeding and the calves. Average
yield per cow and year lies at a good
9500 l calculated over three lactations. “As
a rule, we manage three calves from each
cow, although some have four or even five
calves,” declares Arnaud Cassin. Lifetime
production in this herd averages around
28,500 kg at 4.3% fat and 3.4% protein.
NO CHANCE
FOR ORGANIC
An additional enterprise here is rearing
calves bought in from another farm. These
are kept and fed on the Cassin farm
for about six months and then sold. Up
to 330 calves are reared in this way per
batch. “This enterprise is a leftover from
times when we had less farmland,” explains
Gérard Cassin.
The family head says there’s no urge to
change to organic production. “We have
too little pasture for the number of animals
and wouldn’t get organic status,” he
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says. Additionally, the family see the changeover
as too cost and time intensive.
However, an expansion of the present
dairy enterprise is underway. “Our
daughter’s boyfriend wants to come into
the business and this will allow us to buy
more milk quota,” he adds. In France, as
soon as a new business manager takes
over, it’s possible to increase production
quota”, he explains. “We are in a positive
mood, even although the milk price in the
last years has not been good”. Over the
last two years the price was under 30 ct/
kg. Now, though, it has recovered a little
to 32 ct/kg. “We market our milk to the
private Lactalis dairy because it offers
a better price,” says Arnaud Cassin. The
Lactalis concern claims it is world leader
in dairy product sales with a yearly turnover
of around 17 billion euros.
BUREAUCRACY
BOOMS
Mother Laurence and son Arnaud handle
the farm office work. “However, this
becomes more complicated from year to
year. None of us like bureaucracy here,”
admits Laurence Cassin.