Marco van Liere is the Farm Ambassador of Organic Climate from the Netherlands. For over 100 years, the Van Liere family has farmed at the Aalsthoeve. The dairy farm is located on the De Utrecht estate in Esbeek, in the south of the Netherlands near the Belgian border. Marco van Liere and his wife Jacqueline are the fourth generation to run the farm, which has been organic since 1993.
Marco has nearly 100 Fleckvieh cows that graze on the estate’s land as well as on land of a nature conservation organisation. In total, the land covers approximately 90 hectares which is mainly sandy soil. Grass-clover, cereals and silage maize are grown to feed the cows. The cereals and silage maize are grown in rotation with temporary grass-clover. The cows graze outdoors for at least 180 days, often day and night. The gently sloping pastures, reminiscent of the former dunes in the heathland, are generally permanent grasslands with grass and white clover.
The so-called “Kurzrasen” (literally “short grass”) grazing system is used here. In this system, which has its origin from Switzerland, the grasses are continuously grazed to a grass height of 3 to 5 centimetres. By grazing short, white clover, in particular, has a better chance to grow. For these sandy soils in The Netherlands this grazing system guarantees a good white clover cover and is an important measure to create permanent grasslands with a high soil organic matter content and carbon sequestration for climate mitigation. The short grass ensures high-quality forage, and the white clover provides sufficient protein.
Marco strives to maintain the cattle’s immune system as high as possible by providing them with proper care and feeding. Observing the cattle is a key component of this. He uses the Obsalim method, among other methods, for this purpose. The livestock is antibiotic-free. If necessary, he uses alternative means.
Marco at the OrganicClimateNET International Cross Visit in Latvia.
The organic milk is delivered to Eko-Holland. This is a cooperative of over 250 Dutch organic dairy farms and is completely separate from other conventional cooperatives. Marco is partly responsible for the quality of the collected dairy products of Eko-Holland.
“Within our farm, idealism and stewardship are the main driving forces behind what we do. I’ve always been driven to further refine our farming system. This ensures that a productive system can go hand in hand with high environmental performance, animal welfare, a beautiful landscape, biodiversity, healthy food, and, of course, fellow human beings.” – Marco van Liere
