The Rural Voice, 2019-02, Page 20What does it take to milk 4,000 goats? According
to Dutch dairy goat farmer, Alexander Van Der
Schans, it takes opportunity, perseverance and a
focused attention on costs.
Van Der Schans spoke to a crowd of 80 Ontario goat
farmers who cozied in at the Trillium Insurance building
in Listowel for a Dairy Goat Day session.
Sponsored by Wallenstein Feed and Supply, which is
trying to position itself as a leader in Ontario’s struggling
goat industry, Van Der Schans shared many challenges he
had to struggle through before success came to his farm
business.
His experience may buoy goat farmers looking to
expand in hopes the dairy goat industry in Ontario will
soon be a thriving industry. “The goat industry is a big
market for us and I refer to it as the Wild West,” said
Wendell Schumm, the Ruminant Division Manager at
Wallenstein Feeds. “We’ve been in this situation before.
When Wallenstein was in the layer business 40 years ago,
there was a lot up in the air, We were able to help shape
that and lend support to that industry and we can hope we
can take that role in the goat industry now.”
Consequently, they hired Raymond Jansma – also a
Dutchman who farmed dairy goats in Holland – who now
raises replacement goats for Ontario farmers. He works as
a dairy goat specialist with Wallenstein and it was Jansma
who found Van Der Schans and encouraged him to share
his story with Ontario goat farmers.
It was and is a sort of rural rags-to-riches story although
Van Der Schans came from a successful cow dairy
operation.
As he tells it, he is a 50-year-old farmer with a great
wife and three children. He grew up one of nine children
on a “nice farm” with 60 cows, 120 layers, 20 sheep, four
pigs and some land for growing potatoes and grain.
When he was seven, his father died and his oldest
brother managed the farm. A new barn was built and the
farm began to specialize in dairy farming, milking 120
16 The Rural Voice
Big numbers, low costs
Starting with 600 doelings, a Dutch dairy goat farmer
now milks 4,000 goats and plans to expand
Alexander Van Der Schans (above) and with his wife (right) milk 4,000 goats and sell thousands more as part of their
farming plan to expand their market of doelings into Russia and Turkey. After a rough start without a barn or a contract,
he has built up a successful business by focussing on health, costs and simple management strategies.
• By Lisa B. Pot •
Dairy Goats