Farmer Niels is concerned about escalation: ‘So many farmers are now walking around with hatred and anger’

When dairy farmer Niels Wassenaar (50) enters his barn at around half past five, cow 0563 is impatiently waiting to be milked, just like every day. On this farm in Leusden, everything runs at a fixed rhythm. Wassenaar’s father gets the cows off the land, while he sets up the milking machines and the black Labrador Charlie plays with the water hose. “It’s that you are here now, but otherwise I would turn on the radio really loud and I would sing along.”