The farm with 50 dairymen

摘要

The latest computer technology and a simple feeding regime is proving successful for an Israeli communal farm. The right genes and the right management appear to be the secret of Kibbutz Tzorah's remarkable 11,000 litre herd average. In what must be one of the world's most formidably computerised dairying operations, wriggling uncomfortably in the grip of Israel's inflexible quota system, its 380 black and white milkers comprise one of the country's agricultural show pieces. The cows at Tzorah zero-graze on a 2,500ha collective farm half-way between Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv They achieve yields almost twice the UK average for Holstein Friesians and substantially greater than Israel's not unimpressive norm of around 8,500 litres.