A dairy farm facing unique challenges in the Swiss Alps

26-02-2024 | Farm visits | Article

Over 100 wolves roam the area around Rebeca's farm. Photos: Rebeca Gerber

Milking cows at high altitude in the Swiss Alps presents its own set of unique challenges, and watching out for wolves is high on the agenda for dairy farmer Rebeca Gerber. Rebeca, along with her partner, Domenico Margreth, milk 25 Brown Swiss cows on their farm at Lenzerheide, a popular ski resort in the Alpine Valley in eastern Switzerland. Four years ago Margreth took over the running of the farm that was started by his grandmother, and Rebeca has been working alongside him there for the p

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Chris
Mccullough

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Mccullough

Chris Mccullough Freelance multi-media journalist

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farm visits

Pieter and Laura Verhagen's farm has a compact layout; all the livestock is housed under one roof. Since the start of the contracting business and substantial growth in mechanisation, some of the machinery is now located outdoors – likely temporarily. The youngest calves are kept outdoors in front of the cubicle barn, confined in igloos and group pens. Photos: Bert Jansen

27-05 | Article

Dutch dairy farm expands to 230 cows with low labour requirements

One of the management measures Teun Wientjes wants to use to limit ammonia emissions is lowering the urea content in the milk from 21 to 18. An added benefit is that he then also has to dispose of 400 cubic metres less manure. Photos: Bram Becks Photography

15-04 | Article

Confident in measuring ammonia emissions on a dairy farm in the Netherlands

The farm is compact but has a clear separation between feed storage and the area where the cows are kept. The large dairy barn (left) has been divided into two sections to avoid industrial fire hazard regulations and to qualify for a higher insurance premium. Photos: Henk Riswick

11-02 | Article

From a good atmosphere to a calf sauna for top results on a German dairy farm

Pictured here is the location with the renovated barn where the dairy cows of the Van der Steege partnership have been housed since August. The partners milk with 2 new DeLaval VMS310 robots. The milk goes to FrieslandCampina. This year, Reinier's partner, Janke Rixt van der Kooi (28), has joined the business. She replaces Annie. Photo: Mark Pasveer

08-09-2025 | Article

Ins and outs of extensively renovating a cow barn in the Netherlands