Milking in South Africa

After seeing the first dairy farm in Swartland, I thought I had seen them all: year-round indoor housing, feeding with the mixer wagon, and milking in the milking carousel. Not true!

There are just over 1600 commercial dairy farmers throughout South Africa. They milk approximately 750,000 cows, mainly Holstein or Jersey. Herd sizes start at 350 cows. The amount produced is just enough for South Africa. 60% of the cows graze year-round in the pasture and are supplemented with feed in the milking house. Often, a dairy farm consists of just a milking house with a feed silo and a room for the milk tank. The cows are mainly milked in milking carousels as external milkers. This means they are milked side by side, facing inward, from the outside. The smallest carousels start with 20 cows and go up to 60.

The pastures are divided into paddocks and are regularly irrigated or mulched after grazing. Sometimes the pastures resemble herbal meadows in the Allgäu region, including a mountain in the background, but with irrigation systems. You can see herds of several hundred animals grazing on pastures that are no larger than 20 hectares. The driving paths are sometimes quite long as well. However, since it is quite dry here, trampling damage is not a problem. Due to the different growth rates throughout the year, there are two calving peaks, one in the spring and one in the fall.

Currently, milk costs about 30 cents, which is quite tight. Therefore, it is important to work efficiently. All cows go through a weighbridge at regular intervals. Each animal is individually registered thanks to an ear transponder. The weight development provides information about the health of the cow, along with the measurement of milk conductivity.

On the farm, the farmer does not do the manual labor himself, but manages the farm. However, he is still involved in the outdoor work. Since the staff is often poorly trained, ongoing monitoring of the work and repeated allocation of tasks are a large part of his responsibilities. In addition, each day brings new problems that need to be solved. But he doesn't have to milk the cows himself 😊.