Belgian Farm Tour
Mar. 1 2012
Here is a guest writer Megan Coke:
I told our tour guide that I was a beef farmer and I would like to see some
cattle. It was very random because the tour guide didn't know anything about
farming but he was like oh yeah I know a farmer. So he called someone and
arranged for us to visit a Belgian Blue and dairy farm. The farm looked very
similar to the farms I saw in Ireland with a very compact farm yard and all
metal and steel barns and cement bunker silos. This farm milked 40 fresien
dairy cows in a tie stall that looked similar to dairy farms in Canada. But the
Belgian Blue cows were a different world.
The farm calves 200 pure bred Belgian Blue
cows a year and finished all the bulls and kept all the heifers for
replacement. These animals were unbelievable, absolutely huge. All the mature
bulls were in individual small pens, and there was one especially large one
that definitely looked like he would rather kill you then look at you. The
farmer told us that in the fall, summer and spring when the cattle are outdoors
they can only go in the field where he is with a tractor. The females are all
kept for replacements and kept for 4 lactation. Every birth is a cesarean that
cost 80-120 euro. I told the farmer that
we very rarely have to to cesareans and we kept the cows for 10 years.....he replied
with "that sounds very boring" lol. The cows also do not produce
enough milk to feed a calf in there first lactation so all the calves from first
calf heifers are bottled feed. After the cows have 4 calves they are sent for
meat. The cows that are feeding a calf are kept in a tie stall, while the ones
with no calves are in group pens. The calves are weaned at 4 months. He told us
he is producing high quality meat with very good flavour so he gets paid a premium. 70-80% of the
cattle in Belgium are the Belgian Blue breed. Getting all this information was a
bit of struggle due to the language barrier and our tour guide had a bit of
trouble translated some "technical" terms like heifer. It was
certainly a very interesting experience and definitely something you have to
see to believe.
 |
| Seriously large Bull |
 |
| He looked so mean! |
 |
| Megan loves COWS! |
 |
| Cesarean |
I told our tour guide that I was a beef farmer and I would like to see some
cattle. It was very random because the tour guide didn't know anything about
farming but he was like oh yeah I know a farmer. So he called someone and
arranged for us to visit a Belgian Blue and dairy farm. The farm looked very
similar to the farms I saw in Ireland with a very compact farm yard and all
metal and steel barns and cement bunker silos. This farm milked 40 fresien
dairy cows in a tie stall that looked similar to dairy farms in Canada. But the
Belgian Blue cows were a different world.
The farm calves 200 pure bred Belgian Blue
cows a year and finished all the bulls and kept all the heifers for
replacement. These animals were unbelievable, absolutely huge. All the mature
bulls were in individual small pens, and there was one especially large one
that definitely looked like he would rather kill you then look at you. The
farmer told us that in the fall, summer and spring when the cattle are outdoors
they can only go in the field where he is with a tractor. The females are all
kept for replacements and kept for 4 lactation. Every birth is a cesarean that
cost 80-120 euro. I told the farmer that
we very rarely have to to cesareans and we kept the cows for 10 years.....he replied
with "that sounds very boring" lol. The cows also do not produce
enough milk to feed a calf in there first lactation so all the calves from first
calf heifers are bottled feed. After the cows have 4 calves they are sent for
meat. The cows that are feeding a calf are kept in a tie stall, while the ones
with no calves are in group pens. The calves are weaned at 4 months. He told us
he is producing high quality meat with very good flavour so he gets paid a premium. 70-80% of the
cattle in Belgium are the Belgian Blue breed. Getting all this information was a
bit of struggle due to the language barrier and our tour guide had a bit of
trouble translated some "technical" terms like heifer. It was
certainly a very interesting experience and definitely something you have to
see to believe. 
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