Dairy Research Farm Zegveld was founded in 1915 by the agricultural organisations and operated until 1995 as an independent foundation. In 1995, the independent applied research centres and the Experimental Farm for Cattle Husbandry merged to create a National Applied Research Centre for Cattle, Sheep and Horses. In 2001, Applied Livestock Research was established, which became part of the Animal Sciences Group of Wageningen UR in 2003: the current Wageningen UR Livestock Research.
Dairy Research Farm Zegveld is located near the village of Zegveld in municipality of Woerden on the border of the provinces of Utrecht and South Holland and near the provincial border of North Holland. The sphere of activity of the farm comprises these three provinces. The farm has 76 ha of grassland. The soil type is low-lying wood peat soil. Around 1000 AD, this land was first brought into cultivation and was split into parcels. The elevation is approximately 2 m Amsterdam Ordnance Datum.
Peat soil
Zegveld is the only experimental dairy farm for cattle husbandry in the world that is located on peat soil. The peat layer is approximately 7 m deep. The Netherlands has 378,000 ha of peat grassland (33% of its total land surface).
|
Properties of peat soil |
Advantages of peat soil |
Disadvantages of peat soil |
- High organic matter content (40-60%)
- Long, narrow parcels with many ditches
- Specific botanical composition
- Only suitable for use as grassland
- High value as a natural habitat
|
- Excellent capacity for recovery
- Good permeability
- Great capacity to hold moisture
- High gross yields
|
- Low bearing capacity
- Soil subsidence
- Lower net yield with higher water table
|
Drainage
On the section of farm where the farms buildings are located (27 ha) the land is well-drained, with a water table about 60 cm below the surface. Due to experimental and demonstration considerations, a water table approximately 30 cm below the surface is maintained on the other 34 ha. Lowering the water table from 30 cm to 60 cm significantly improves the bearing capacity of the soil, and therefore provides more operational security.
|
Advantages of lower water table |
Disadvantages of lower water table |
- Higher net yield of 11%
- Higher milk production
- For pasturing
- regular growth
- less damage to the grass
- higher yield
- For feed production
- greater certainty
- less damage to the sod
- Fewer problems when spreading manure
- Lower nitrogen requirement.
|
- Accelerated subsidence.
- The average subsidence with a high water table (30 cm below the surface) is 5 mm per year;
- with a lower water table (= 60 cm below the surface) the subsidence increases to 8 mm per year.
|
Buildings
The experimental farm has a barn with 112 cubicles for dairy cattle and 35 cubicles for young animals between one and two years old. To conduct tests with individual feeding, 40 feed doors have been installed. The calves are housed in an open front barn. Since 1975, this system has been used successfully at Zegveld.
For manure storage, the following facilities are available:
- 2 pile-supported silos of 550 m3 each
- 1 plastic manure bag of 325 m3
- Manure cellars under the cubicle barn, the calf barn and the pile-supported silage platform, in total 800 m3
Farm buildings
1. Office
2. Meeting room Reception room
3. Cubicle barn
4. Milking parlour, milking centre
5. Dry cows
6. Young animals
7. Young animals rearing area
8. Research space
9. Manure yard
10. Equipment storage
11. Environmental measurement station
12. Silage platforms/trench silos Manure silos
Environmental measurement station
As part of the national air quality network, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) installed a measurement station on the dairy farm. It measures the following environmental aspects:
- Gaseous and particulate air pollution
- Rainwater quantity and contamination
- Biological effects of air pollution on indicator plants (in cooperation with Plant Research International).
Our farm data:
|
Area |
76 ha, all peat soil grassland |
|
Milk production |
Rolling annual average |
|
Cows |
110 HF breed |
|
Age |
4.09 |
|
Milk |
10,352 |
|
Fat |
3.69 |
|
Protein |
3.40 |
|
Kg fat |
389 |
|
Kg protein |
358 |
|
Financial annual result |
2630 |