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Farm/dairy name: Franken Farm
Owner: Pieter and Karina Franken, kids Hanneke 8, Geke 6 and Melco 3
No of dairy cows: 100
Breed of cows: Holstein black and white
Milking system: TURN-STYLES™ HBR (The 500th sold)
Number of milkings per day: Two
“I chose DeLaval because they had the best and most complete offering for me.”
The Franken family began with a farm that only had 45 dairy cows but 11,000 layer hens. This farm was situated in Barneveld, Netherlands. However, when it was time to expand, the existing farm area wouldn’t allow for it.
“On my old farm, there was not enough room to grow my dairy farm operations. Even though the poultry business is quite profitable, I had to be honest with myself – I am more of a dairy farmer than a poultry farmer,” says Pieter Franken, owner, together with his wife Karina, of the new Franken farm in Swifterbant, Netherlands.
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The Frankens made a decision and invested in the new farm with its 56 hectares and two barns. The larger barn on this farm is built to hold 230 dairy cows, while the smaller one is better suited for young livestock. “In this new area, we now have a lot more space. We also have a good collaboration with our neighbouring farmers who mainly grow crops. This gives us a good opportunity to solve the manure problem.”
The Frankens want to begin using their new TURNSTYLE™ HBR rotary parlour with milking around 100 cows. This DeLaval rotary milking parlour is labour efficient and the milking routine is the same for every cow, every day.
“After researching which system I wanted, and visiting many farms beforehand, in the end, I thought the rotary parlour was the best solution for me,” says Pieter.
“I have chosen a rotary because of the consistent milking routine and the highest throughput per cow."
The Frankens bought a TURN-STYLES™ HBR with 28 bail steel deck with sequence gates. On the automation side, they chose the DeLaval milking point controller MPC510 and the DeLaval milk meter MM15. Pieter plans to milk alone in his rotary parlour, and since he has no time to spray or dip at the exit, he invested in a DeLaval spraycare box. “In a rotary, the cows are exiting one at a time and that should make it possible to have the necessary capacity to spray the teats.”
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Pieter wants to work with two production groups but milk them all together. After milking, the two groups will be split again by the DeLaval sort gate DSG3. And in order to have good cow traffic to the rotary, he invested in a Herdsman crowd gate. Pieter uses the Herd Management system ALPRO from DeLaval and DeLaval activity meters to get control of his herd.
Pieter Franken has used DeLaval before and says he was quite pleased with the equipment and service then. Having this good experience helped to make the decision to purchase the TURN-STYLES® HBR rotary parlour system. “I wanted one partner to supply the entire range and the confidence I have in my DeLaval dealer De Kruyf is very important to me. I know what I can expect from him and he knows that he has to deliver as promised.”
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When investing, the Frankens thought of the future. “Labour efficiency will be very important when I expand my farm to 200 cows in the coming years as I plan to do. To help with this, Pieter purchased many options with the TURN-STYLES™ HBR that would increase labour efficiency. DeLaval calf feeders, a crowd gate, spraycare box, activity meters and a DeLaval sort gate DSG3 were among the options.
“I also think one needs a heat detection system for a herd with more than 100 dairy cows. You can earn a lot of money with a good fertility rate,” explains Pieter. Before purchasing all options and equipment, Pieter asked himself the question: 'Will this option give me a pay back in profit or labour?' “If the answer was negative I didn’t buy it. It’s only in the future that I will know if I was right or wrong.”
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