Technology increases efficiency on German family farm

摘要

Jurgen Hansen runs a dairy farm with 155 milking cows located in the Lower Rhine area close to the Dutch border. In order to improve labour efficiency, which he found was one of the factors limiting profitability of the family farm, he invested in a state-of-the-art milking and housing system. It was in the late 1970s that Jiirgen Hansen and his father decided to specialise in milk production. "Since we were convinced that a milk quota system would be introduced sooner or later, we tried to milk as many cows as possible to create a start position that would provide us with enough quota to run a profitable dairy operation," explains 38-year-old Jurgen.