With 3,200 dairy cows, 2,650 heifers and nearly 400 dry cows, Granja San Jose is one of the largest dairy farms in Spain. Having invested around €28m to up the numbers from 1,300 in 2010, we discover some of the challenges of farming an hour’s drive to the north of the Pyrenees
Located close to the small town of Tamarite de Litera, roughly in the middle of a line between Zaragoza and Barcelona, the Granja San Jose dairy farm was founded by brothers Antonio, Jose Maria and Ramon Pont in 1962. It is astonishing at just how far the three men have come since 2010 when they milked 1,300 cows. Originally it was estimated that the costs to grow the herd to 3,200 cows would be around €30 million. There is still some building work to do, but they reckon they will come in under budget at €28 million.
