Austria

In Austria we visited 5 farms and a biogas station. Three of the farms were organic farms with cows and two commercial farms. One had cows and one had dairy goats. The goat farm and one of the organic farmers only fed hey, because they use the milk to produce “mountain cheese” and if you feed silage, it will explode and on the goat farm, because it is a tradition in that area.
All the farms used manure and no chemical fertilizers exept Hypophosphat (P₂O₅), which is slow soilable. Hypophosphat is used as straw and it helps against flies and moskitos as well as if the pH is not perfect.
The quality of the food was one of the most important aspects in our topic, so we watched at the hey and silage on all farms. Mostly the hey wasn´t dusty, of course not musty and it was more green than yellow. The smell was good and the cows seemed to like it. The silage wasn´t musty too. But some parts were wetter than others and on one farm the silage was frozen.
After that we visitet a bio gas station. It was very interesting and they told us, that they mix silage (out of maize, grass and wheat) with pig and cowslurry. The farmers of the area bring their slurry to the station and it is stored there for them. When they come again, they won´t get as much slurry as they brought there but they get the same amount of Nitrogen. The stored slurry has a content of 6kg N per m³. The quality of the slurry, as they told us, is much better than before, because micro organisms worked and the nutrients are better available for the plants.
The last farm was our school farm, also an organic farm with dairy cows, pigs, sheep and horses. It also owns some ha of grassland. They use manure and some years ago lime and the next year Phosphorous. Now the soil samples say that there are enough minerals in the soil.

Soil

Brown soil is the most common soil in Austria and the types are very various.

The character depends on the host rock and on the soil substrate.

It is found on ferrous and silicate bedrock.

In the brown soil there are much Calcium and Magnesium.

It has a pH in the topsoil of ca. 4,5 and in the underbody of ca. 5,5.

The Humus in the brown soil is mull humus, which is very good, because it gives back a lot of Phosphorous and Nitrogen.

The use depends on the water and nutrient supply.

In the agriculture it is not good if it has a high skeleton matter.

Fertilizing

On the organic farms in Austria fertilizing is not very common. Most farmers only use their own manure or mix it with rock powder or other hardly soulouble fertilizers. Against Phosphorous deficiency the most common agent is Hypophosphate which is used as straw. Crop Rotations on arable land help to get enough Nitrogen.

The big acreage of grassland is a reason why we don`t use too much chemical fertilizers. It is allowed to put 210 kg N per ha (170 kg N per ha out of farmyard manure). In Austria it is common to spread muck or manure about 3 times a year and we have 4 to 5 cuts a year.

Roughage

In some areas they only feed hey, because they use to make special cheese and some farmers still feed like this only because it is a tradition. If they fed silage, the cheese could explode or get to big holes. Some farmers use grasssilage, mostly for dairy cows. One common way of feeding protein is draff, because it is also very rich in mineral nutrients, but the negative aspect is, that you also have to feed lots of salt. Many farmers mix their food in the feed mixer. Then they use among other things straw and silage.

Page updated 10.4.2006