Amos and Jan are the only labour on the farm carrying out the day-to-day tasks, while local contractors carry out all the fieldwork. If any of the brothers are travelling or are sick, they hire workers from a farmers’ organisation.

“We use a 16-point swing over herringbone parlour from Lemmer Fullwood fitted with cow management sensors and tools from Afimilk,” Amos explained.

“All aspects of herd management are controlled by software from Afimilk, and the cows wear pedometers to generate data from their behaviour.”

The milking cows are fed a total mixed ration (TMR) in the barn using a Sgariboldi Gulliver self-propelled machine with a horizontal paddle sDuring the grazing season the cows receive a high energy content ration in the barn. In the winter time the ration contains even levels of protein and energy.German farm operationystem.