DeLaval, a Swedish company that makes dairy equipment, has started building a new dairy complex for 550 cows that will be “more modern and sustainable,” according to the company.
The new complex at DeLaval’s Hamra Farm in Sweden will cover 18,000 sqm and include new barns, 4 new DeLaval VMS V300 automatic milking robots, and other digital technology to improve the health, quality, and efficiency of the animals.
A focus on the welfare of animals
As well as being a commercial dairy farm, Hamra Farm has always been used as a test unit for the company’s latest innovations, with a big focus on animal welfare.
On the farm, there are about 250 cows that produce an average of 12,200 kg of milk per cow per year. With this new investment, they hope to increase the number of cows to 550, which is more than double the current number.
Hamra Farm’s managing director, Johan Bjurevall, says, “We’ve always put a lot of thought into our animals’ health and happiness. Part of our philosophy is that good animal care and planning for the long term usually lead to good yields.
“The investment has opened up a lot of new opportunities for us, and it’s great to be able to help plan and build a modern farm with a long-term focus.
“We’ve been planning and getting ready for the building for a long time. The new barns will house 550 dairy cows of the Swedish Red and White breed (SRB) and 500 young stock of the Holstein breed. We now have a good mix of these two breeds, which has worked well for us for a long time,” he said.
Hamra Farm is only 30 minutes from Stockholm. It takes care of 2,800 ha of land, of which 1,000 ha is arable land where winter wheat, barley, and corn are grown to feed the herd.
Over the years, many different pieces of DeLaval equipment have been tested on Hamra Farm, which also shows customers how to use the equipment.
Bjurevall says, “That makes our job so much more fun and exciting, but it also means we need to plan more for our building project.”
Even though the company hasn’t said how much the new complex will cost, DeLaval said that the investment will “continue the development of modern and sustainable milk production.”
Paul Lofgren, president and CEO of DeLaval, says, “At DeLaval, we really want to find new and innovative ways to make milk production more sustainable while putting a lot of attention on animal health.
“We can do this with the help of automatic solutions, more digital systems that, for example, give the farmer important information at the right time, and good animal knowledge and advice.
“When the rebuilding of Hamra Farm is done, we’ll see even more of that. It’s a big day for us, and we’re very happy and proud to finally be able to show off this amazing building. The first animals are supposed to move in at the start of 2024,” he said.
