Cooperation

In Norway some farmers go together and start a cooperation, this because of the quota. In Norway it’s controlled by the government how much quota each farmer can have. If they go together they get a higher quota (a higher limit together), less work per farmer, and fewer costs with machines and other things. Then the farmers also have the opportunity to have another farm by him self, or other work next to the cooperation. This is quite different from the Netherlands, because the quota's there aren’t controlled in that way, and then they can have as much quota as they wants, and in that way grow bigger without cooperate with other farmers.

Calf cooperation:

You can think about to let somebody else take care of your calves. When the heifers are pregnant they will return to the farm. As soon as she’s given birth to the calf, you can milk the cow. Then she should be about 2 years old. This is usual in Netherlands. In Norway it’s usual to feed the heifers up, inseminate them, and have them self until they’re old enough for the selection. In Netherlands they’re having the selection already after 10 days. In Norway the farmers mostly keep the bulls too, and feed them up until they’re sloughed. In Netherlands they’re sending them away to other meat-farms.

Page updated 23.4.2007