High milk price yield evaporated due to increasing prices: “It’s survival”

Livestock farmer Remco Rotteveel recognizes the story. Together with his father and brother, he keeps about 250 cows in Ursem. He calculates: “Two years ago you paid 27 euros per 100 kilos of fertilizer, that is now 110 euros. The same is true for animal feed, but slightly less. Then you paid 30 euros per 100 kilos, now 55 euros. keep rising, that’s a concern, when will it stop?”

Because the Netherlands annually obtains about 3.7 million tons of feed maize from Ukraine, about 60 percent of the total import. Something that is now gone. And last autumn the price for fertilizer in the Netherlands jumped as a result of the high gas price – due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The prices of animal feed and fertilizers have been rising since October, the milk prices only since February. You have to fill that gap yourself and that hurts quite a bit. Although the milk price is now historically high, the cost price continues to rise. You are left with almost nothing. .”

honest sandwich

LTO director Trude Buysman therefore calls on buyers – dairies and supermarkets – to index the price that the cattle farmer receives. For example, the increase in animal feed, fertilizer and energy can be passed on. “That way they earn a fair living”, she thinks.

But now that dairy farms are faced with additional costs, they can choose to throw in the towel after a two-year corona pandemic. To prevent this, it is important that all links between the farmer and the consumer take responsibility. “These are uncertain times for dairy farmers,” concludes Buysman. “Nevertheless, the situation in West Friesland is still manageable, but this should not take too long.”

Because the milk price has risen slightly. The counter currently stands at about 50 cents per litre, a few years ago the price was still below 40 cents. But a livestock farmer gets little or no profit with this. “The cattle farmer, he remains the cigar. Since it is at the bottom of the chain. The citizen wants to, but the consumer often opts for the cheapest. That is not surprising, if you look at energy prices and inflation. But left or right, the consumer will eventually feel it in their wallet.”

Driving more efficiently

Livestock farmer Ad Baltus from Zuidschermer sees that too. For a dairy farm with 100 cows, an increase of 10 cents per liter makes a lot of difference. Yet he does not count himself rich, because high costs skim off his yield. “I am already trying to save on all sides. Such as driving more efficiently with the tractor or giving less concentrates. But there is a limit. For example, I need a shovel to feed my cows, I cannot do that with a wheelbarrow. We also have to stay realistic.”

No choice

But that’s not all, Buysman sees. From politicians, livestock farmers are also presented with ‘wishes’ on the plate. “We are rolling from crisis to crisis. There is a nitrogen approach, farmers are being bought out. Something that makes them no longer dare to invest. There is a price tag attached to everything, people often forget that.”

Rotteveel and Baltus recognize that too. “Politics wants us to become more sustainable as a sector, we want that too. But we don’t have a cent left. We always say: ‘We can’t think green if we are red’. It really is survival.”

Many livestock farmers, for example, are going to spread less, notes Buysman. “Less fertilizer is applied, which results in less grass or maize. So also less animal feed, everything is related.”

But do you really want to? “No,” Baltus says. “A cow produces about 10,000 liters of milk per year. To achieve this, she needs concentrate. A cow cannot only manage with roughage such as maize and grass. If we don’t give concentrate, we get less healthy cows. And then the milk production decreases and with it our yield. Unfortunately, we depend on that.”