NorFor is a valuable tool and a new way of thinking

NORWEGIAN DAIRY FARMER

"I think that NorFor is a useful tool", says Petter Arne Ekroll, Norwegian dairy farmer. – "It is easy to analyze whether the feeding gives the expected response. If we notice something unexpected in any of the groups, the system helps us to understand what has happened". Ekroll is one of five farmers running the dairy unit Skodje Samdrift. When establishing the unit of 85 cows in October 2010, they were already familiar with the NorFor system. Peter Arne Ekroll did not find the system difficult. – "It took a while to get used to the new vocabulary and the new way of thinking". They use professional consultants from the TINE dairy cooperative. They optimize the mixed rations based on feed analyses of the nutritional content of the silage. – "The mixed ration, which the consultant puts together, works well. What we then do is to continuously check milk yield and milk contents, and watch the body weight of the cows. It certainly feels easy once the accurate feed mix is obtained", says Ekroll.

Make the same mix all through the year

At Skodje, the silage is stored in round bales which makes it easy to control the different qualities of the roughage. With that control they can make the same mix throughout the year and use the same type of concentrate to match the silage. Petter Arne Ekroll thinks it is easier to get this right with round bales than with a silage tower.

Petter Arne Ekroll is the manager of the dairy unit Skodje Samdrift 35 km east of Ålesund at the Norwegian west coast.