Dairy cows flourish on natural pasture

A total mixed ration has become the predominant feeding system of dairy cows in South Africa. But Rob Visser, owner of Dalewood Fromage, has bucked this trend, focusing instead on pastures planted to many species of grass. His approach has contributed in no small way to his internationally acclaimed cheeses, says Lindi Botha.

- Lindi Botha

FAST FACTS

Seventy per cent of the Dalewood dairy herd’s feed is pasture-based.

By using manure instead of fertiliser, greater soil health is achieved.

Pastures are grazed at high density.

The romanticised picture of the idyllic dairy farm, with contented cows resting on pastures dotted with clover in bloom, plays itself out on Dalewood farm near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape.

“I want to see my cows chewing the cud,” says Rob Visser, owner of Dalewood Fromage. “That’s when I know they have a good pace of rumination and the microbes and pH levels in the rumen are [optimal].”

Happy, healthy cows with superior genetics, feeding predominantly off pasture, is the winning recipe that Visser has employed on the farm, and ‘winning’ is no exaggeration: he has garnered a host of awards for both his hard and soft cheeses. All Dalewood white mould cheeses have received annual awards from their inception, either in local or international competitions. And most notably, the Huguenot semi-hard signature cheese has twice received super gold status at the World Cheese Awards, and in 2017 was crowned the third-best cheese in the world at the same awards.

While these awards have served to place Dalewood firmly on the cheese world’s map, it was arguably Visser’s first win 21 years ago that was most significant, for this saw the farm convert to a full-time dairy.

Visser was in fact running a strawberry farm, but had an interest in cheese and kept a small herd of dairy cows. The breakthrough came when he created a Camembert that earned the attention of judges in 2001.