The recently raised ramparts at the Muiderslot are nice for historians and tourists, but dairy farmer Piet Meester is less happy with them. The renewed ramparts are so steep that the municipality can no longer mow them. The result for farmer Piet: all sorts of things (seeds and fluff) proliferate from the unmown grass onto the farmer’s pasture. He calls himself the victim of the restored ramparts: “My lawn will become one wilderness.”
Dairy farmer Meester increasingly finds plants on his pasture that do not belong there – NH News
Piet Meester is very concerned about the future of ‘his’ grass. A grass meadow that he is particularly careful with. He explains: “The grass that is here is English Raai.” According to him, it is the best grass there is in the Netherlands. Master: “The cows give milk from this. It has been here for a hundred years. You have to be very careful with that.” While the dairy farmer is expressing his concern, he spots an unwanted plant that he quickly pulls out, root and all.
A matter of time
The emergence of the weeds is not too bad at the moment, but the dairy farmer fears that it will be a matter of time before the grass is under pressure. Master: “Jacobwort is poisonous to horses. For cows I don’t know, but I just don’t want it in my pasture.” He adds that the plant contains hard iron oil seed, something that he says never digests. “In 100 years that will increase.”
“We are just the drain of Gooise Meren”
Meester says he has already sounded the alarm with the municipality several times, so far without the desired result. He says about this: “If I call the person who is talking about it, he will no longer answer it. If I use Whatsapp, nothing will happen. We are just the drain of Gooise Meren.”
Community response
In contrast to the dairy farmer, a survey by NH at the municipality of Gooise Meren appears to be more successful. A spokesperson says that a solution is being worked on and that mowing will continue this year anyway. Still, it does not make Piet Meester hopeful. He has lost faith in a solution in the meantime. “I’m afraid that nothing will happen at all. That we have to swallow and choke. That is painful and a pity.”