Al Safi Farm

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The Al Safi Farm (also Al Safi Dairy ; Arabic مزرعة ألبان الصافي, DMG mazraʿat albān aṣ-Ṣāfī ) is the largest dairy farm in the world. The company is located in al-Khardj governorate in Wādī as-Sahbāʾ in the Saudi Arabian Rub-al-Chali desert, around 100 km from the capital Riyadh . Up to 50,000 dairy cows and their offspring are kept here; the annual milk production is over 170 million liters.

history

Abdullah ibn Suleiman al-Hamdan had already started to establish milk production in Al-Kharj in the 1940s . The Saudi royal family became more involved in the industry from the late 1970s. Prince Abdullah ibn Faisal (1921-2007), eldest son of King Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz , founded the royal society Al Faisaliah based in Riyadh and then built the subsidiary Al Safi in Al-Kharj. In 1981 the facility was completed and 6,500 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were imported from Canada. In 1998 the company with its then 24,000 animals and 3400 hectares of cultivated land was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest dairy farm in the world. To enable further expansion, Al Safi became a joint venture with the French Danone group in 2001 . Since then, the products manufactured here have been sold under the Al Safi Danone brand . In 2009, Al Safi had already held 37,000 cows.

today

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Al Safi is a milk producer whose organization is characterized by strong vertical integration . Not only is the feed produced on site, the milk is also processed in the company. Homogenized fresh milk , yoghurt and fitness drinks are the company's main products; Despite exports, around a third of the dairy product requirements of Saudi Arabia can be met.

In addition to 500 meters of housing systems that can accommodate each for 1,500 cows, has Al Safi seven CAN bus -vernetzte parlors (side-by-side) for each 80 cows. The stables are equipped with water spray systems (so-called cattle coolers ) that irrigate the dairy cows from a temperature of 27 ° C; the outside temperatures can reach up to 55 ° C.

Forage crops are grown on an irrigated area of ​​around 10 square kilometers. The cultivation areas, which were still nearby at the beginning, were moved to more distant locations in order to protect the local water sources. The plants delivered to the company are processed there in mixing plants to make TMR based on Rhodes ( Chloris gayana ), Sudan grass and alfalfa hay . The average daily milk production of a cow is around 35 liters; the most productive cows also achieve a daily output of 70 liters. It is milked three times a day for eight minutes each time. The water consumption is enormous, one liter of milk requires around 2500 to 3500 liters of water. The required wells now reach a depth of 2000 meters; the water pumped from this depth must first be cooled before use. Agriculture accounts for 80% of water consumption in Saudi Arabia.

Around 60 calves are born every day. Bull calves are slaughtered three months after birth.

The managing director of Al Safi is Prince Mohammed bin Khalid Al Faisal, a grandson of the founder.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fred Pearce: The Land Grabbers: The New Fight over Who Owns the Earth . Beacon Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-8070-0325-1 .
  2. ↑ Even larger than Al Safi is the Al Marai Company with 65,000 cows, which are not kept at one location, but are distributed over seven farms between Riyadh and Al-Khar. According to Alain Gresh, Edgar Peinelt (transl.), Milk in the Desert , No. 8852, April 3, 2009, Le Monde Diplomatique , German edition
  3. ↑ The information on the number of cattle kept varies between 37,000 and 50,000 (Fritz Fleege or ARD Mittagsmagazin, 2014, both see under web links )
  4. ^ Sharaf Sabri: The House of Saud in Commerce: A Study of Royal Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia . 2001, ISBN 978-81-901254-0-6 , p. 50, no. 14 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  5. ↑ a b Alain Gresh , Edgar Peinelt (transl.): Milk in the desert . In: Le Monde Diplomatique . No. 8852, April 3, 2009 (German edition).

Coordinates: 24 ° 12 ′ 27.6 "  N , 47 ° 26 ′ 41.9"  E