On Tuesday, November 8, at 3:30 p.m., Drs. Jacob van der Vaart will give a lecture on American farms in Fryslân. Together with Hans de Haan, he wrote a book about this, which was published last October. The lecture starts at 15.30 in It Kofjelokaal of Museum Joure, Midstraat 99.
Tickets (€4) can be purchased at the bottom of this page or - if there are enough seats - at the front desk. The lecture is organized by Histoarysk Wurkferbân Skarsterlân.
Some fifteen American farms left
About fifteen American farms remain in Friesland. In 1923, the first one in Friesland was built in Scharsterbrug. Farmer's son Lammert Simons Brouwers from Minnertsga went to America and discovered this type of farm there. They had more light and space for the cows, better hygiene, each cow there had her own water trough and there was a lot of attention to climate control and ventilation.
Years of research
With this book, De Haan and Van der Vaart want to raise awareness of this type of farm. They did years of research. Many of these farms have since been demolished. The model was soon made obsolete by agricultural mechanization and cubicle stalls were added to the farms.
Some farms are still being farmed, such as in Scharsterbrug. Dairy farmer and owner of the American farm in Scharsterbrug, Sido van der Werf, did have to build a new barn at his farm because the cows were getting bigger. But still his opinion is that the American barn was quite an improvement over the Friesian barn.