From banker to farmer

Like every morning, the alarm rings at 3.30 a.m., even on Sundays. Urte Schulz-Möllgaard from Wobbenbüll near Husum is already awake. She has just breastfed her little daughter Lotta. Now she and her husband Jörg put on their farm clothes. Their dairy cows are waiting to be milked. The process takes two hours and is repeated again late in the afternoon. “It feels like me-time to me,” says the mother of three. “No cell phone rings. Instead, we listen to music and take a quiet look at our animals during the milking process,” continues the business administration graduate. Grüffelo is usually the first to turn the corner. “The dairy cow is one of the highest-ranking in the herd. She sets the tone. The others follow her,” explains Urte, who just five years ago had a well-paid job in a bank. A total of 350 animals, including calves, live on the North Frisian farm. The couple farm 120 hectares of grassland and 80 hectares of arable land to feed the cows and cattle.

Intelligent health management prevents illnesses

"My husband and I took over the farm in 2019. Jörg was Managing Director of Maschinenring Südholstein. We both had careers in the private sector, grew up on farms, but were not intended to succeed them. It was always our big dream to run our own farm.” The couple struggled for three years. Then they bought the Hahnenkamp farm on the North Sea coast. “The former owners Conny and Herwig have the right to live here until the end of their lives. We kind of bought grandma and grandpa with us,” says the farmer with a smile.

In 2014, the previous owners built new buildings such as the milking center and the large cowshed. In order to increase animal welfare, the farm successors decided to reduce the number of animals so that each cow has its own cubicle and feeding area, including the young cows that have had their first calf. “We introduced a new herd management program based on artificial intelligence. A device about ten centimetres in size was inserted into the rumen of each cow.” This sensor does not disturb the animal. Instead, it provides important health data that can be accessed via an app. “From rumination times, drinking cycles and movement activity to body temperature and water intake, the intelligent program learns from the cows and thus recognizes in advance when illnesses are on the horizon and provides warnings,” says Urte Schulz-Möllgaard, describing the technology. The app on her cell phone displays various areas, including health, feed management, pregnancy and fertility. “Before each milking, I check these health tiles for each animal and see if there are any abnormalities,” says the 37-year-old.

If a cow does have an elevated temperature and mastitis or inflammation of the udder, is imminent, the animal is given a mixture of water, calcium, garlic and painkillers for two days. “The garlic stimulates drinking. This flushes the inflammation out of the body, so the vet doesn't have to prescribe antibiotics for the cow,” explains the farmer. “However, if the animal's rumination curve drops rapidly and it is hardly producing any milk, it may be infected with an E-coli germ. This infection can be fatal and must be treated urgently with antibiotics.”

Fewer germs thanks to a clean environment

To prevent environmental germs from having a chance in the first place, the couple cleans and disinfects the stalls and milking parlor very meticulously every day. “The cleaner the animals' environment is, the fewer germs can develop,” explains Urte Schulz-Möllgard. That's why all visitors are prohibited from entering the stables unannounced. “We are very strict about this. Thanks to our smart health system, we have been able to reduce the use of antibiotics by 50 percent.” The couple has also reduced hoof diseases to two percent by using a hoof foam mat, which the animals have to use every time after milking.

“I have completed an acupuncture course for cattle, which I am constantly expanding. If there is a metabolic disorder or afterbirth, I insert needles into the animal. That works very well. So we not only treat our animals prophylactically, but also use alternative healing methods.”

Of course, this does not replace visits to the vet. After each calving a vet comes to the farm every two weeks to examine the uterus. The rest period before the next insemination at the Hahnenkamp farm is around 80 days and not 60 days as is usually the case.

Cheese straight from the farm

All of these measures, as well as regular monitoring of the energy-rich, digestible feed and careful care of the herd, including health issues, ensure that the animals are doing well. “Since 2019, we have been able to increase the herd cut from 9500 kilos of milk to 12,000 kilos, with ingredients of 4.29% fat and 3.65% protein,” the farmer happily sums up. That's 6000 liters of milk per day. A small proportion of this is processed into cheese on the farm. Whether “Wilde Hilde”, “Dill Dieter” or “Feine Grete”: The cheese is sold directly to surrounding hotels, farm stores and village butchers. “Our cheese doesn't taste like industrially produced cardboard cheese. It is also produced in a much more climate-friendly way, as it is cheesed by a small local dairy and is not imported from other European countries. What is the point of organic cheese from Spain? The transportation alone is not sustainable,” she concludes.

When Urte Schulz-Möllgaard only has a few hours to sleep at night, she sometimes wonders whether she and her husband have done the right thing. Especially because they produce a product for which they don't know the selling prices. “Imagine working for weeks and not even knowing what your wage is. That's how it is for us with milk prices. Most of the time, we don't know whether we'll even recoup the costs because the sales prices are dictated to us and are only given to us after the milk has been delivered to the dairy.”

Nevertheless, the couple have no regrets about taking over the farm. “We experience great family cohesion and I am happy that my children are growing up in this environment, with lots of nature and animals.” Her older daughter Ida and her son Jonne even have their own cow. She was the first Simmental calf born in 2019 after they took over the farm. Since then, they have cherished and cared for the cow, which they have named Kuschel-Plüsch.

Editorial note:
This article and other exciting stories about people in agriculture can be found on the website and in the magazine Stadt.Land.Wissen of our cooperation partner Forum Moderne Landwirtschaft: Magazin - Moderne Landwirtschaft (moderne-landwirtschaft.de)