Ayrshire heifers eating hay

Finland

Common things about Finland

Finland has a long winter so the farmers are very busy in summer. In winters Finns plan the following summer and feed and milk the cows.

The average amount of cattle in Finnish farms is 21,3.  Of the dairy cows in Finland 71,2 % are Ayrshire and 27,7 % are Holstein-Frisian. 1,1 % of the dairy cows are Fincattle.

Structure in feeding

In Finland silage is the most important source of NDF. Hay's role in feeding has decreased. In Finland the concentrated feed (mostly barley, oats and concentrates) is about 40 % of feeding. Finnish farmers don't use maize because of the short summer.

You can read more about NDF in Finnish at farmit.net.

Quality of manure

You can find the average Finnish manure analyses in the bottom of this page.

Quality of milk

The Finnish way of feeding (restrictedly fermented silage and grain based concentrated feed) tends to favour the production of milk fat.

In Finland 78 % of the dairy cows belong to ProAgria’s monitoring system. In 2004 the average results were:

Nitrogen in cow

In Finland the average urea content in milk was 27,3 mg/dl in 2002. Most  of the Finnish farmers we met wanted the urea level around 20–30 mg/dl but we also met some farmers who think that 30–35 mg/dl is a good level, because it still increases the milk production.

In Finland a farmer is paid according to the amount of protein and fat in milk. For protein is paid  more than for fat, so it is important to use the nitrogen efficiently.

Back

Page updated 16.5.2006