Livestock farming on the Swedish extremes
The challenges of island farming and getting the most from feed were just some of the subjects tackled at the recent International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress. Aly Balsom reports from Sweden
Forage quality and supply may be causing a headache for most British producers this year, but imagine if the only way to get extra hay and silage was via a half-hour boat ride.
This is an ongoing challenge for Stockholm archipelago farmers, Camilla Strandman and Albert Mattsson, who have little choice than to get the most from what they can produce on their island farm.
The couple graze sheep and cows on the main island of Nämdö and its six surrounding small islands and face hay prices three times those of the mainland if they were to ship supplies in.
Factor in the added cost of vet advice and the challenge of moving stock between islands, and it’s clear that management has to be highly skilled and tailored towards their unique situation.
Forage
“We have 24ha spread out across seven islands,” says Ms Strandman. “Of these, there are 25 larger fields of about 1ha in size that we can use to grow and cut grass.”
Generally, the organic farm takes one or two silage cuts a year and the aftermath is then grazed when stock come back to the main farm from the surrounding islands.
“We have more land than we need, so we don’t need to graze intensively,” explains Ms Strandman.
Soils are regularly analysed and no artificial fertiliser is applied to land. However, pasture improvement is limited because of the large deer population on the islands.
“Deer are a big problem – they eat half of the grass that grows and any new grass that’s introduced. In a dry year, it’s more of a problem, but not so much this year as it’s been wet.”
In fact, this season they have produced an excess of hay. However, rather than sell hay, supplies will be carried over to next year. “Crops can be 100% more or less every year and we can’t buy-in as it’s so expensive,” she says.
Health challenges
The farm runs 10 Hereford cross Aberdeen Angus sucklers and 60-70 Gotland and Gotland cross Swedish Fine Wool ewes – all selected to thrive in the island environment.
“The Gotland breed is able to cope more with ticks and they don’t have too many lambs which means they can cope better,” says Ms Strandman.
“The biggest health challenge we have is from ticks. Ticks can cause anaplasmosis – a bacterial infection which can cause lambs to go lame.”
The isolated island location means a vet is only used in extreme circumstances, Ms Strandman explains: “It’s very expensive for us to get a vet as they need to travel by taxi boat, so it would cost about SEK2,000 [£190] – we need to do stuff on our own as much as possible.
“We have good contact with a vet on another island. He knows we’re skilled. We can have antibiotics on farm, otherwise it would take five days for a delivery to reach us.”
Ms Strandman explains how all Swedish livestock producers must receive extra training to administer antibiotics to animals, otherwise a vet would have to treat individuals.
Management
To cope with the extreme winters, the flock is brought inside in December, where they remain until they lamb in April.
In early pregnancy ewes receive silage and hay and then in mid-February they get oats and milled dried field beans in a 10:90 mix.
“When ewes lamb they get half a kilo of this mix/head and an additional half a kilo for each lamb they have,” she says.
Ewes and lambs are grazed on the main island and receive supplementation until May when they are shipped to the surrounding islands in batches of 10 where they remain until August.
Lambs are then separated and brought back to Nämdö where they are finished off on grass. Lambs are then shipped to the mainland for slaughter at about 15-20kg.
Handling
Although moving stock by boat creates its challenges, Ms Strandman says the trick is to ensure stock are tame. Years of experience have also allowed the process to evolve into a fine art.
“When we’re moving lambs to slaughter, we split them out inside and then walk in front of them with a bucket of oats to the jetty. The dog then rounds them up from behind and pushes them on to the boat.”
Cattle are moved to the islands in June and have to be tied up on the boat to prevent them from moving around, which could result in the vessel capsizing.
To get them used to being tied, tie stalls are used in the barn for one week when cattle are housed in November.
Meat sales
After slaughter, meat is packaged on the mainland and sent back to the island.
Although “archipelago meat” has become fashionable in trendy restaurants in Stockholm, Ms Strandman has made the decision to sell all of the farm’s meat through the on-site farm shop, which caters for the hundreds of summer visitors every year.
By doing so, she can charge a premium and it also fits her ethos of supplying quality meat to ordinary people.
“If we sold lamb to the slaughterhouse, we’d get about SEK35/kg [£3.32/kg], but in our shop we can sell it for SEK150/kg [£14.22/kg],” she says.
However, environmental payments make a significant contribution to farm profits.
“As with most of the islands in the area, the farm is owned by the Archipelago Foundation. And as tenant farmers, the couple must work to maintain the landscape.
Ms Strandman explains: “The payments we receive to keep the landscape is more than the production of meat, whether we are selling to the slaughterhouse or from our shop.
“Of our SEK1.5m [£139,806] turnover, half would be from SFP and other support.”
Jan-Christer Carlsson sells his heifers on contract to a local producer at two months of age and buys them back in-calf at 25 months.
Book in at a heifer hotel for more milking time
Contract heifer rearing may not be a new concept in the UK, but one Swedish dairy producer has taken the idea a step further by selling his youngstock to a “heifer hotel”.
Jan-Christer Carlsson from Södertälje in Sweden sells his heifers on contract to a local producer at two months of age for SEK1,000 [£95] and then buys them back in-calf at 25 months for SEK10,000 [£950].
“I have a contract with an old milk producer who still enjoys agriculture,” says Mr Carlsson, who runs a herd of 66 cows yielding more than 11,000 litres a cow a year.
“It’s a more lucrative business for him as he still receives subsidies and it means I have more time to focus on the milking cows – it’s a win-win.”
The contract farm covers all insemination and health costs and the two work together to formulate a breeding policy that fits with Mr Carlsson’s aims. Stock are then sold back pregnant and fully vaccinated.
Mr Carlsson was one of the first producers in Sweden to implement such as scheme, although many farmers have since followed suit.
Feed little and often to up intake with less waste
Providing cows with several small batches of feed throughout the day can help increase dry matter intakes (DMI) and reduce wastage, according to DeLaval business manager, Henrik Rosenberg.
Considering feed costs can contribute to 50% of total running costs on a dairy farm, reducing wastage by 5% could have a significant impact on farm profitability, he says.
Such thinking is behind the design of the company’s automated feeding system, which can mix and deliver multiple rations to different groups of cows throughout the day.
“This ensures cows have fresh feed in front of them and helps attract cows to the feed passage,” he explained during a trip to DeLaval’s Hamra Farm in Sweden. “This is particularly important with voluntary milking systems, as it’s important to get cows moving.”
The system allows a farm to have several bins of forages, which can be automatically measured and mixed in varying levels with concentrate. A rail-suspended feed wagon then delivers it to a designated group.
On one farm of 270 cows, the system has boosted DMIs by 5% and reduced feed times from two hours a day to just 30 minutes.
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