The dairy industry in Hungary has taken a beating in recent years forcing some dairy farmers out of business and others in a dilemma of whether to follow.
The Covid-19 era, the war in Ukraine and in 2023, one of Hungary’s worst droughts, have created endless challenges for dairy farmers, forcing the profit margins to suffer.
However, one larger farm has made a number of changes, investing in new technology and improving key performance indicators to futureproof the business.
Hungary dairy farm
Extra Tej Ltd. operates its farm in the north-western region of Hungary near Beled, extending to 1,060ha.
The company, owned by the Harsanyi family and Zsolt Pinter, took over the farm from previous owners Elore Agricultural Cooperative Society in May 2003.
Kovacs Balint, manager of the dairy, explained how the farm has modernised and what the current production is like.
He said: “During its ownership to date, Extra Tej Ltd. has made a number of investments to improve the infrastructure of the farm and in new technology to increase overall efficiency.
“These modernisations included a new feeding system in 2010, followed two years later by a new Boumatic Xcalibur 360EX rotary parlour that holds 50 cows.
“Two new barns to house 578 and 418 cows were built in 2014 with a liquid manure handling system financed by a modernisation grant. Also, a new barn for transition cows was added in 2023.”
In addition to these improvements, the company is constantly upgrading its machinery and technical equipment, including the renovation of the silo depots for storing bulk feed, the road networks, and other infrastructure.
The farm is home to around 1,000 cows that are milked three times a day, with an average daily production of 40.41kg at 3.81% butterfat and 3.32% protein.
The milk is sold to Alfoldi Tej Ltd. at around 146 HUF (£0.28/€0.38) per kg.
Kovacs added: “In the early 2010s, the focus of breeding was mainly on milk production and calving ease.
“However, in recent years, in addition to these value traits, an important criteria for the selection of bulls is the somatic cell count [SCC] and the sire has to be A2A2 homozygous for beta-casein, and should improve the milk butterfat and protein as well.”
Operation
Cows are separated in groups and housed in freestall barns with the milking herd in cubicles and non-producing groups are in barns with deep straw bedding.
On the farm, only artificial insemination (AI) is used and a heat detection system is applied to identify the animals in heat.
Groups are determined by whether the cow is in the first lactation or more, and by the pregnancy status and days in gestation.
Currently, there are 39 workers carrying out the duties on the farm, as well as seven management staff and an external veterinary service.
Kovacs explained that the high number of employees is justified by several factors, including the need to ensure a continuous supply of quality staff and the fact that the farm is a kind of demonstration farm.
“We produce the bulk feed for the herd ourselves, with most of the forage required being grown on the farm,” he explained.
“The ration for the milking cows consists of maize silage, rye silage, sorghum silage, rapeseed groat, soya groat, maize groat and barley.
“The dry cows receive a mix including alfalfa silage, grass silage, hay and straw. The average dry matter intake of the milking cows is around 26kg to 28kg per day per animal,” he added.
All the ingredients are collected, mixed and distributed by a self-propelled RMH feed wagon to the milking cows and by a trailed RMH feed mixer to the heifers.
“In order to try and safeguard some forage production against droughts, the farm has installed an irrigation system on 237ha,” Kovacs continued.
Technology
New technology is playing a major role in helping Kovacs get the most from the cows and make the management process more efficient.
Cow comfort in the barns has been vastly improved by switching the old rubber mats in the cubicles to waterbeds to help increase lying times.
“We have also replaced the heat detection system with a SmartTag system from Boumatic,” Kovacs said.
“This will enable us to have continuous data on inactivity, eating and rumination, besides the individual identification of the cows.
“In the new transition barn, which has been in use since August 2023, we have an automatic curtain, ventilation and a manure handling system that are nowadays standard equipment.”
There is also a DeLaval OptiDuo feed return robot installed.
“We are not planning any expansion or diversification at the moment,” Kovacs indicated.
“The infrastructure is sufficient to serve the current number of animals, so an increase in the number of dairy cows would require an expansion of the silo depots and the storage capacity of significantly increased liquid and solid manure.
“The aim is to optimise the processes with the current number of animals, improve the key performance indicators and thus achieve the highest profitability in line with the economic environment by increasing efficiency,” he said.