Norway is a country dedicated to nature and hiking lovers. Between mountains and fjords, multicolored landscapes during three seasons and bichromatic in winter, we must admit that landscapes look amazing all year round here! And livestock farming in all of that? Walking through the wild lands of Norway in summer, one can hear the sound of bells and bleating accompanying the sound of the wind blowing and the calm of nature.
In Norway, there is only 3% of arable land, while forests, heathlands and wetlands prevail over the majority of the territory. Thus, livestock have settled here by coping with existing natural resources and snow, which covers the land for six long months of the year. Since “the beginning of time”, in Norway, they practice transhumance. After a long winter sheltered from the cold and the snow, the animals are taken to altitude, far from farms, to value the non-cultivable areas. Historically, pastoralists went into exile from June to September on summer farms, known as "seter", where they made butter and cheese.
Tor, the mountain shepherd
Tor and his parents, Bersvein and Else Marit, maintain the traditional Norwegian farming activity. Together, they raise thirty Norwegian Red dairy cows, sixty Spaelsau sheep and thirty goats. On the farm, 27 hectares of grasslands are dedicated to grazing and mowing for the production of hay and wrapping. Calving takes place at the end of the year and the Norwegian Reds' milk is collected with a robot. In sheep and goats, lambs and kids are born in the spring, just before the transhumance! In June / July, the three herds move to Eldåseter, the summer farm, located 26 kilometers from the main site at an altitude of 950 meters. Here continues the milking of cows (without robot this time), which had started in the valley. Cows graze near the seter, while sheep and goats roam freely around their summer home, where they feed on highland grasses and plants. All these little people will come back down to the valley in October. The power does not reach Eldåseter. The tractor power take-off feeds the milking machine.
From left to right: Photo 1. House and stable at the Eldåseter summer farm. Photo 2. The Spaelsau sheep have returned from the pasture and graze around Eldåseter. Photo 3. Summer stable for the Norwegian Reds. Photo 4. Each cow has a name written above its place in the barn. Photo 5. Mobile claws for milking cows in summer pastures. Photo 6. Kid of the year.
When you reach Eldåseter, you first admire a rudimentary-looking house, whose traditional Norwegian roof is covered with thick and varied vegetation. Then, upon entering this little wooden house, our eyes marvel at the Norwegian taste for warm and lovingly decorated interiors. The fire in the fireplace, the wooden seats and tables immerse us in the atmosphere of the seter, the summer farm. Here we find the remains of the farm's historical productions, such as the moulds that were used to make brown cheese, or the wooden churn for making butter. Today in Eldåseter they no longer make butter or cheese. Moulds and churn are now used to decorate the house.
Photo. Moulds formerly used for cheese making, especially Brunost (brown cheese)
Currently, the milk from Tor's beautiful Norwegian Reds is collected by a cooperative, three times a week. The TINE cooperative is the one and only cooperative in Norway that collects milk from almost all Norwegian farms (N.B.: direct sales are not common in Norway). Milk produced in the seters is less accessible to dairies than milk produced in the valley. Nevertheless, TINE pays all its farmers the same price, regardless of where the milk is collected. On average, the milk is sold for 55 cents per litre, but the protein and fat content of the milk is a criterion for determining the price. Feeding at high altitudes contributes greatly to the quality of the milk produced by Tor's Norwegian Reds, which graze among heather and blueberries. In the middle of summer, the milk sold by Tor is around 70 cents per litre! An excellent indication of the fat and protein content of his milk.
Photo. High altitude territory with multiple plants, grazed by animals the whole summer.
Hans, the connected farmer
Milk production in seters is a practice that tends to be lost with the industrialisation of agricultural production and the search for a comfortable life for the new generations of farmers. Fewer than a thousand farmers still keep their animals on summer farms at high altitude. Most dairy farmers have settled in the valleys, where large areas of green grass now feed the cows all year round: grazing in summer, hay and silage in winter, when Norway is covered with snow.
Hans Ulberg is one of those farmers who have concentrated their dairy business on one site. Hans raises 45 Norwegian Reds on the family farm at 275 metres above sea level. He took over from his father in 2011 and invested in a milking robot two years later. With the purchase of the robot, Hans increased his production to make the investment profitable. Whereas his quota (right to produce) was 150,000 litres of milk, Hans bought lands to increase his quota to 400,000 litres of milk.
Photo. Hans home
Hans has a farm where quantity has become the goal. To succeed, Hans has become a connected farmer! From his computer, he showed us cow by cow their production level, the quality of their milk, their fertility, their health problems... The installation of a robot, the implementation of rapid and precise monitoring means to detect heat and health problems, the control of a balanced diet that is as close as possible to the needs of the cows all year round... All these factors ensure that Hans' beautiful Reds have an average milk production of 11,000 litres per year. An objective fulfilled, but with major concerns. While the price of milk remains constant, Hans suffers from the fluctuating prices of the raw materials on which he depends to raise his cows and to live: animal feed, electricity, wood...
Photos 1 et 2. Hans' cows. Each cow wears a collar that records rumination frequency and physical movement (both of which help the farmer detect changes in cow behaviour and identify heat or health problems). The collar also allows each cow to be recognised by the robot and to individualise feed requirements, so that cows are fed as closely as possible to their needs.
Photo. At Hans' farm, only the heifers go to the highlands for the summer.
The concentration of dairy farming in the valley is symptomatic of the agricultural policy in Norway (it is very similar to the policy applied in France), where farmers receive subsidies "per hectare". In short, the bigger you are, the more subsidies you get. Hans deplores the strategic direction of current agricultural policy, which leads to a decline in the number of small farms that are gradually being absorbed by neighbouring farms. This phenomenon is encouraged by the low attractiveness of livestock farming in Norway. Many farms are not taken over. Many of them are then bought by non-ruralists, who keep the house and sell or rent the land to neighbouring farms.
Photo. Gudbrandsdalen Valley, where is located Hans' farm
Photo. Hans' farm, view from the opposite side of the Gudbrandsdalen Valley
The farmers cannot be blamed for the fact that the world is becoming more and more competitive. For example, the TINE cooperative is facing an increasing collection of milk by rival private dairies. Hans explains that private dairies prefer to choose high production farms, where milk collection is easy, and thus offer a higher remuneration for milk than the cooperative. In order to stay in the race, TINE optimises its yield by closing down the least profitable collection sites: a project that could ultimately disadvantage milk production in the mountains.
New subsidies have been introduced in Norway to support animal husbandry at high altitudes and limit the desertification of seters. This support alone cannot counteract the intensification of dairy farming in the valley. But where the agricultural policy finds its limits is in the organisation of the territory, which does not allow the development of the "standard" European dairy model. Some Norwegian farmers are quite clear on this point:
"It is as if the politicians do not know the territory, so much it is impossible to apply productivist farming here as in other European countries. In Norway, if the farms grow, the farmers have to travel miles to maintain their pastures because there is little space for grass and pastures are spread out in the valleys.
Hans, like many farmers, has high hopes for the next government, which was elected on 13 September. Hope for a new life for Norwegian livestock farming?
The Norwegian moment
- Spaelsau: the little sheep that is good at everything
The sheep raised by Tor and his parents are of the Spaelsau breed, a historical breed from Norway (Old Norwegian) crossed with Icelandic and Faroese breeds. Spaelsau sheep are small white sheep (grey and black variations exist in the breed) with a strong gregarious instinct, adapted to the Norwegian climate and that does not require large amounts of feed. About 22% of the sheep in Norway are Spaelsau. The breed has excellent meat quality, high-fat milk and wool used for clothing and carpets.
- With or without horns
Norway has strict rules on animal health and welfare. Here, all procedures that may cause pain (castration, dehorning) may only be carried out by a veterinarian and the use of animal medicines is strictly regulated. As a result, livestock breeding selection centers in Norway have prioritised health and practicality. Among the advances in breeding, Norwegian cows and sheep are born partly without horns. This makes it possible to eliminate dehorning procedure, a painful practice for the farm animals but necessary for the safety of the herd and the farmer. Furthermore, the selection of animals on health criteria explains why today the Norwegian Red is exported, including to France, for its resistance to diseases and pathologies common in breeding (limbs quality, health of the udder).
Photo. Norwegian Red
- Brown cheese... really a cheese?
Historically, Eldåseter used to make the famous Brunost. Brunost is a Norwegian production dating back more than 300 years. The Norwegian name literally means "brown cheese", but in reality it is not! It is made by slowly cooking whey (to which cream or milk may be added, depending on the type), which caramelises and finally forms a brown paste. Brunost is made from a mixture of cow's and goat's milk (Gudbrandsdalsost), or from goat's milk only (Ekte Geitost) or from cow's milk only with cream (Fløtemysost). Brunost is a typical Norwegian "cheese" that is eaten with jam on bread or in a sauce to accompany meat.