Dairy cattle and soil health in Denmark

His T-shirt says ‘Curious about tomorrow’ – and it was curiosity that made Chris­tian Højgaard Weigelt step forward in 2021, when Arla invited farmers to partic­i­pate in a pilot project adopting regen­er­a­tive farming.

Since 2005, Chris­tian had run Snåstrupgård, in East Jutland, Denmark according to conven­tional prin­ci­ples. The cows were loose housed, crop­ping was forage-based crop­ping, and field oper­a­tions included ploughing, spraying and manure spreading supple­mented with NPK fertiliser. He describes himself as the proto­type of an ordi­nary farmer. 

“It worked well,” says Chris­tian. “But although I devel­oped the busi­ness over time, I still needed a fresh pair of eyes on the farm. The land I took over was good and reli­able for cultivation, and I wanted it to remain that way.”

The fresh were exactly what Arla’s pilot project aimed to be. The initia­tive brought together 24 farmers – both conven­tional and organic – from five Euro­pean coun­tries, including six producers from Denmark. By the end of 2025, the goal was to assess how regen­er­a­tive prac­tices on a dairy farm could improve soil quality, specif­i­cally targeting two measures: Soil health and biodi­ver­sity. 

The project brought together prac­tical expe­ri­ences into a guide designed to help other farmers move towards regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­ture. External experts were involved throughout, and on the Danish farms, indi­vid­uals from the inde­pen­dent centre for agri­cul­ture and food produc­tion, Seges Inno­va­tion P/S, were also involved.

A new approach

The main prin­ci­ples behind regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­ture are: Minimal tillage, contin­uous soil cover with living roots all year, with as much biodi­ver­sity as possible and the inte­gra­tion of live­stock. So, what has happened over the past three or four years?

After a brief pause, Chris­tian Højgaard Weigelt begins to reflect. Reduced tillage and increased plant cover had already been on his wish list, so with expert guid­ance through the pilot project, he decided to commit to both. It required deter­mi­na­tion and effort, he admits. Long estab­lished routines and methods had to be recon­sid­ered, and some familiar prac­tices had to go.

“We previ­ously only culti­vated the land for one year at a time, plus a few catch crops, even though we are not obliged to do so,” explained Chris­tian. “Now we prepare two-year field plans and use all aspects of crop rota­tion to ensure ground cover throughout the year. It’s a bigger and more time-consuming puzzle to solve. “In terms of yield, things are going well,” he empha­sises. He grows 63% of the maize, grass and whole grains used to feed the 180 dairy cows. Intro­ducing more diverse crops could increase feed self-suffi­ciency, he esti­mates, but he hesi­tates to act on this. For two factors come into play: Time and economics. 

“It’s a choice I will have to make,” he says honestly. “It would require more work, and would a higher self-suffi­ciency rate econom­i­cally support the extra hours?” Even in regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­ture, it comes down to balancing inputs and outputs. The second item on his wish list – reduced soil treat­ment – is already under way. Today, 80% of Snåstrupgård’s land is managed without ploughing.

“This suits our land,” says Chris­tian. The soil is of the type JB6, meaning it is a heavy clay loam that retains both water and nutri­ents well, making it fertile. However, it can become water­logged during wet periods and very hard when dry. Tradi­tion­ally, the plough helped redis­tribute the phos­phorus and other nutri­ents, making them more acces­sible to the roots.

It may seem para­dox­ical that similar results can be achieved with no-till farming, he admits. But by preserving soil struc­ture, it creates better condi­tions for the micro-organ­isms that release the nutri­ents. The plough is now in storage though it has not been sold. “It’s still a good agri­cul­tural tool to have,” he says. “And it’s also indis­pens­able if the soil collapses due to too much rain.”

A better food package 

While the issue of greater feed self-suffi­ciency remains unsolved, Chris­tian is increas­ingly consid­ering closer inte­gra­tion between live­stock and the field. The regen­er­a­tive focus on soil quality has given him much food for thought. “We previ­ously thought the soil was an inex­haustible resource as long as some NPK was added to it,” he says. “But in doing so, we prob­ably over­looked the value of the entire world of micro-organ­isms that the soil contains. That’s where it all begins. Micro-organ­isms are the foun­da­tion of all growth.”

Today, the farm’s fields receive diges­tate from a nearby biogas plant. The added biogas step is primarily driven by climate consid­er­a­tions. However, Chris­tian believes old-fash­ioned fertiliser from the cow shed – a mix of manure and straw – provides a better ‘food package’ than slurry.

“If I really wanted to make a differ­ence, I would put the cows out to pasture,” he says. In the field, cows could then deliver the nutri­ents – and carbon – directly to the field. Alto­gether, grazing would create a heaven for bacteria, fungal spores and other micro-organ­isms that together promote soil health. The farm layout, with a suit­able number of contiguous hectares around the barns, make grazing entirely possible. Even­tu­ally, Chris­tian would like to create an entirely circular system: Soil-feed-table-waste-soil. 

Increased root depth

In 2022, three field plots were selected for annual soil sampling as part of the project. Chris­tian will­ingly pushes his spade into the ground to demon­strate the soil struc­ture. 

Today, a British consul­tant describes the soil as “fairly easy” to work with. Previ­ously it required “some to moderate wiggling” for the spade to pene­trate the ground. The root network is now denser and is better inte­grated with the soil. On two of the three plots the root depth has increased by six centime­tres. The third plot was planted four days before the 2025 measure­ment and was not measured.

The figures may not seem impres­sive, but this should be seen in light of the fact that the plots have been converted to no-till along the way. At first glance, biodi­ver­sity has not yet improved. However, the project is only three years old and needs time to show measur­able change. To help things along, Chris­tian has laid out approx­i­mately one kilo­metre of flower strips and installed beehives on the farm.

Patience. Patience. Patience.

Although the plough has not been sold and more crops are being consid­ered, Chris­tian has no regrets about enrolling in Arla’s pilot project. “It has been exciting, educa­tional, and has given me new ideas about agri­cul­ture,” he says. Yes, some routines had to change. And it required patience; a lot of patience, as results will not be seen imme­di­ately. He some­times had to change direc­tion, including shifting his own mindset.

“But the major advan­tage has been that external non-farmers were asso­ci­ated with the project. This provided a different envi­ron­ment for discussing matters,” he stresses. Is there anything he would have done differ­ently with the expe­ri­ence he has gained? “No,” he imme­di­ately replies. “But it took me four years to get where I am today; I would have liked to have been able to do it in less time. It’s the old agri­cul­tural crafts­man­ship, just applied much more wisely.” There is no inten­tion of going back. He remains, as his T-shirt says, curious about tomorrow.