Floating farm

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The floating farm is a pilot project in which a cowshed with (depending on the source) 40–60 cows is to be built on a pontoon in the port of Rotterdam . Start of construction and completion should be in 2017 [obsolete] . The city of Rotterdam approved the construction in November 2016. On the pontoon there will also be space for a laying hen house for 6000 animals.

Initiators

The companies Courage, Uitjeeigenstad and Beladon are behind the project. In addition, the working CEO 's of companies Priva and Lely with which had in the past, its focus on automation.

properties

The building in Merwehaven has several floors. There will be a biogas plant and a rainwater collection basin. The cows should live in a cow garden , which means largely avoiding stable facilities or cubicles. The soil is permeable for urine , the feces are collected by a robot. In addition, there are small trees in the barn to offer the most natural conditions possible. There are already a few cow stalls based on the cow garden system. Milking is done with a milking robot, the milk is processed on site by 2 employees. There will be a walkway so the cows can go ashore to graze in an adjacent pasture. In the cellar under the cow garden, alfalfa, red clover and grass are grown using LED lamps . This basic forage is fertilized with the collected urine. Solar cells are planned on the roof. Visitors will be able to see the production.

aims

The aim should be to produce food where consumers live. In addition, arable land should be saved. Unnecessary areas in the port can be used. Animal welfare and profitability are also sought.

criticism

There was doubt that cows would get seasick. However, researchers at the University of Utrecht have argued that thousands of live animals are easily shipped across sea from Australia to the United States each year. It is questionable whether the feed production system in the basement delivers enough roughage, otherwise the transport effort would be immense.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. agrarheute.com floating farm
  2. a b Spiegel.de Cows should live in a floating barn
  3. nieuwstop10, building permit granted (Dutch)
  4. portofrotterdamm (Dutch)
  5. koeientuin.nl ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.koeientuin.nl
  6. top agrar, cow garden, a stable of the future
  7. the guardian do cows get seasick, English
  8. NOS, Seasick Cows (Dutch)