Farming in the Netherlands works under different constraints. Farmers don’t have cows in pasture, they often have long concluded that it is more efficient to mechanically inject manure into their land, mechanically mow the resulting grass and feed it to their cows. Grass production increases that way, and it makes it less labor intensive to move the cows from and to milking stations twice a day.
Also, once you have enough nitrogen in your land, cow piss doesn't make the grass grow faster, it seeps into the surface water, kills fish, and makes algae grow faster. The Netherlands mostly is way into that “once you have enough nitrogen” zone.
I stayed for a week on a dairy farm in the Netherlands (Fluitenberg, outside Hoogeveen) last year and it was completely unlike your description. The 100ish cows lived on a grass pasture and came in only for milking.
It was operated very similarly to a dairy farm in Ireland 20 years ago, which is all I'm familiar with.
Hello. I thought about what you wrote for a bit as I’m walking by some fields in the Netherlands.
Animal well being is of great importance to the Dutch middle class. Dairy consumption is high, and a high amount of the dairy sold, particularly milk, is advertised with animal well being. Just the milk cartons alone would tell you that cows do go to pasture a lot. That said it would be torture to have the cows stand outside the whole year. You can hardly get more domesticated than a Dutch cow. A golden retriever is more wild.
A lot of farm land, as a result, gets injected with fertiliser. In the summer the grass gets dried and stored to last through the winter.
I am assuming this is correct. I base this on what I see right in front of me.
There's big differences per farm. According to the CBS about 75% of farms let their cows graze outside. The dairy industry has published an intention to get this number up to 80% of cows being outside on the field for at least 6 hours.
I haven't been on a farm in 20 years, I have no idea if farmers rotate so they can have 200 cows on a 100 cow field each day. I imagine they wouldn't bother with making cows graze at night.
They are legally required to inject the manure rather than just spray it to prevent it all being washed off into surface water. It has its own problems, of course.
There is just far too much cow manure produced here.
Also, once you have enough nitrogen in your land, cow piss doesn't make the grass grow faster, it seeps into the surface water, kills fish, and makes algae grow faster. The Netherlands mostly is way into that “once you have enough nitrogen” zone.