The cows of farmer Anton de Wit from Reeuwijk may know it for themselves: inside the stable or outside in the pasture. A few black with white specimens – they are blister heads – have just made the decision to go outside. Spread in the meadow standing and lying around seventy of his ninety ‘girls’ to graze and ruminated. “Nice,” he says satisfied.
Not all cows have that freedom of choice. Published from this week figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics It appears that a third of the one and a half million Dutch dairy cows in 2024 did not have been outside at all – an increase of 12 percent compared to a year earlier. Cows that did come outside were there for many fewer hours. That is despite the ‘Covenant Weidegang’, the newly concluded ‘animal -worthy livestock farming’ and stimulation from the government. “It’s a shame,” says De Wit (59). “It’s better for land, cow and farmer.”
That is exactly what Daniel Reisman (34), the founder of collie company Collie, also thought. He wanted to make the pasture easier for farmers. “Because,” he says as he walks with De Wit in the meadow, “cows in the meadow are not only happier and healthier, it is also better for biodiversity and causes less nitrogen emissions.” The cows of De Wit now all have a band of Collie. The collars are equipped with a vibration motor, a speaker and GPS. With the app, the white virtual posts can place in its meadow – a matter of dragging a dot in the app, confirm, ready. The collars then tell the cows where they are allowed and not allowed.
Normally physical posts De Wit would cost at least an hour of work. “Now thirty seconds.” That makes cows in the meadow a lot clearer. He takes a few steps forward and waves his arm. “So here is the electric fence, but it is not there,” he says happily. Although there are no posts, it is clear where the cows are currently coming. A clear separation is set in the length of the grass.
Moving physical posts takes Anton de Wit at least an hour of work. Through the Collie app it is now a matter of thirty seconds.
Walter Herfst
In the ditch
The cows learn in a “three -day training” that when the collar starts toep, they have to go back a bit. He shows the app on his phone. A meadow with all green dots that represent cows. “Look, now there is one in red, you see. Then they get to hear a sound signal. Now she goes back, you see, now it’s green again.” This week he saw in the app that one of his cows had ended up in the ditch. “You have that out of it, of course, no problem, but it was nice that I was so fast.”
A nice side effect, but Daniel Reisman from Collie has greater interests than cows in the ditch. He says, he himself has “a fairly activist background.” But at a certain moment he realized that “saving the world” starts in changing the food system. He wants a more symbiotic system, with the cows in the meadow.
Dozens of chickens walk in the whey of Anton de Wit. They pick in the cow pies, so that the manure spreads across the country.
Walter Hersft
“Look at the collaboration that Anton has created with the chickens,” he says. Dozens of brown chickens run in the meadow. They enthusiastically pick up the insects in the cow pies and spread the manure across the country with their legs. “That is perfect. If we want to continue feeding people, we need farmers like Anton. And healthy, happy cows.” Reisman picks some grass and keeps it up. “As a human being we have nothing to do, but a cow can make milk and meat from it. We have to cherish that.”
If we want to continue feeding people, we need farmers like Anton
With Collie he wants to help farmers “more often, longer and better”. This is the third year that the company exists, there are now fifteen farmers who use the system. “Towards the end of the year we are in a thousand cows.” De Wit was the second farmer to work with Collie: “Meadow casses has always been an important part of my business, now it is only a lot easier.”
After Denmark?
Research shows that people also like to see cows in the meadow. But of course it is not. In Denmark, the grazing has risen enormously in a few years, says Reisman. “In 2000 it was still 90 percent of the cows, now only 20 to 30 percent.” This period is a tipping point, he thinks. “We’re going after Denmark, or we’re going after Ireland where 90 percent outside is the norm.”
Although De Wit does have a comment on the figures from last year. “Due to blue tongue and extreme weather conditions, cows often couldn’t go outside.” Yet he managed to let his animals enjoy the fresh air for 3,750 hours. He hopes that the government will encourage farmers to leave cows in the meadow. “But the consumer also plays a role. Organic dairy cows have to go into the meadow, so then you know what you are buying.”