Cows from farmer Dennis Smit bought out move to new farm

The cattle trucks turn up in the yard early in the morning. Another cup of coffee is drunk before the operation starts. You can read the tension on Smit’s face. “They’ve never been transported.” With more than 90 cows and also the young stock, 160 animals have to be moved. The journey is only four kilometers but that doesn’t make it any less stressful. “They were spotless, but shit all over each other.”

At the end of 2019, they discover that there is a claim on their land. Fifty of the sixty hectares of land must become a nature reserve. Dennis: “If that is all nature, you can no longer earn a dry bread as a dairy farmer and the company is also unsaleable.”

The province of North Holland is proposing to buy the entire farm. “The company was appraised and we got the market value for it. Not a penny more or less for goodwill because I’m leaving here voluntarily. It’s a six-figure figure, we could buy the other company for it.”

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Smit did not want to put up a defense with the potential consequence of an expropriation procedure. The fact that he can continue his business nearby, in a modern stable, is worth more to him. “And the children can now also stay at school here in Ursem, we are happy about that.”

Family business

That doesn’t make the move any less emotional. The company has been in the family for 48 years. “My father has farmed here for 24 years, and so have I, and the children were born here. You won’t be disappointed.”

Obviously it was not that Smit could continue his business around the corner. “We also looked at other provinces. At the end of November last year, this farm came up for sale and that accelerated everything.”

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It is still a bit of work: the new house is not ready yet. Only the cows are left now. In connection with grazing, the ladies have to get used to the new stable for a few weeks. Moreover, the 25 cows taken over from the farmer who was there before are already there. “My wife and children will stay until the renovation is finished. I will sleep at night on the new farm, because I don’t want to leave the cattle alone. So that will be ‘latting’ for a few weeks,” Dennis jokes.

Daughter Fiene (11) and son Tim (12) find it exciting, but are happy with the move. They both often help on the farm. Tim: “We are improving, of course, with an automatic feeding system and milking robots, which is quite handy.”