A Dutch company will soon introduce the world’s first floating dairy farm

By Ella Imms

Cows will soon be walking on water in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Yes, you read that correctly.
Dutch company Beladon, led by husband and wife team Minke and Peter van Wingerden, are bringing the world’s first floating dairy farm to the waters in the city of Rotterdam.
The farm will be a multilevel, high-tech facility that will keep 40 cows and produce 800 litres of milk per day, a volume typical of small dairy farms found in the Netherlands.
The idea was conceived after the couple witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in New York in 2012 while on a business trip.
Fresh produce was impossible to come by in the weeks following the storm due to food delivery trucks being unable to reach their destinations. The Van Wingerden’s believed that there must be a better way to produce food closer to “the heart of communities”.

Construction begins. (Beladon)

The self-sufficient floating farm will also do more than just house and milk cows.
“Although it’s strange and not very logical perhaps for some people, we think that on the water there is still space for growth and also space to look at new opportunities for technology,” van Wingerden told Business Insider.
The three-tiered facility will certainly boast some of this new technology. The cows, situated on the second level, will be milked by robots (cool, no?), and the bottom level will house machinery for processing and packaging. And the top? Beladon will grow its own clover and grass for the cows to eat.
The cows will also be fed using various waste products from the city like grains and by-products left over from mills and factories, and their manure will be sold as fertiliser. They are determined to recycle as much as possible.

An artist’s depiction of what the farm will look like once completed. (Beladon)

Not everyone will be on board with an idea that takes animals from their natural habitat, but even the most diehard of animal activists can’t dismiss that this is a far better alternative to factory-farming-butcher-houses. In fact, it even looks a little like a cow-cation.
Other concerns have been raised about the noise that will be made by the cows, but there is only so much Beladon can do about that.
“Some people are afraid what’s going on, but on the other hand there are also [those] who cannot wait until the first cows come in,” Van Wingerden says.
“They are very much looking forward to see a cow here in the harbour.”
Going forward, Beladon is looking at building floating chicken farms and floating vertical farming greenhouses. They hope to expand into Singapore and China as a natural extension of rooftop farms and other similar concepts that are already in place.
You can keep up with the progress of the floating farm by following Beladon on Instagram.
Lead image: Beladon

TB compensation: Changes after pregnant cow discrepancy

 

The rule change follows a 12-month evidence gathering exercise

Image copyright VT Freeze Frame

Farmers wrongly declaring their TB-infected cattle were pregnant before slaughter has led to a change in compensation rules.

The Welsh Government said of the 7,418 cows declared as pregnant, post-mortem examinations found only 4,601 were.
This led to an additional £459,000 in compensation payments over 12 months.
From November written proof of pregnancy will be requested at valuation stage, which a farmers union called an "additional burden".

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The announcement follows a 12-month evidence gathering exercise carried out by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths, said: "Cattle owners are rightly paid compensation for cattle slaughtered because of TB.
"However, we had concerns that some cattle were potentially being valued as in calf when they were not.
"The study by APHA and FSA shows that this is a real issue and that is why I am introducing changes to the valuation and payment of in-calf cattle, with written proof of pregnancy diagnosis now being required at valuation stage."

'Difficult time'

But NFU Cymru Milk Board chairman Gareth Richards said: "Those in the unfortunate position of losing cattle to bovine TB work with valuers and inform them of those cows and heifers they genuinely believe to be in calf at the time of slaughter, having either been running with a bull or artificially inseminated.
"Whilst we understand Welsh Government's concern following the results from this commissioned work, we have stressed that this is an additional burden at a very difficult time for those losing cattle who are reactors.
"We ask that the process of submitting pregnancy diagnosis results to Welsh Government is made as easy and trouble free as possible."