Cows absolutely love grass and if it’s fresh, all the better! That’s why the Vista Alegre cows graze outside in our fields all the months they can (at least seven, weather permitting).



But even in summer cows also eat other things.

Until 2011 their menu has been:

Low season (winter)
•    Dry alfalfa
•    Maize silage
•    Feed concentrate (barley and soy)
•    Sugar beet pulp
•    Grass silage
•    Hay

Dry alfalfa



Maize silage

Feed concentrate

Sugarbeet pulp



Hay

High season (summer)
•    Freshly cut grass taken to the cow barn
•    Maize silage
•    Grass grazed in the fields
•    Feed concentrate (barley and soy)


Freshly cut grass

Organic feed and fodder

Not all farms feed their dairy cows the same things. On the Vista Alegre farm we have been improving the quality of our herd’s milk (natural and nourishing) and over the years we have changed the fodder we give our cows: they now eat more forage (grass, alfalfa...) and less feed concentrates. From april 2011 we began the two year conversion period to organic farming. Therefore from april 2014:

* there are no transgenes (genetically modified organisms) in the feed or fodder we give our cows:  we thus no longer use soy or maize (corn) given that most crops and/or imports are contaminated by GMOs.

* we no longer use any synthetic chemical products on the farm (insecticides, herbicides, etc).

The calves have their own menu:
•    During two to three months they drink their mothers’ milk



•    They also eat:
-    Hay
-    Special concentrate for calves
-    Grass grazed in the fields

Hay


Special concentrate for calves


The calves also graze

Heifers also have a special menu!
•    In winter: grass silage, hay and concentrate
•    In summer: grass grazed in the fields


Mmmmm... scrummy! Dandelion with a touch of fescue grass and, for pudding, a bite of white clover.

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