Our cows and pasture management

Every morning Astrid jumps into her boots and makes the way to our pastures. From afar she is already greeted with the "happy-moos" of the cows, as they know: When Astrid comes there will be fresh grass very soon.

Within minutes Astrids moves the electric fencing, the water trough and mineral-lick. During this skilled and experienced procedure the animals - by the way an old German heritage dual-purpose breed - are patiently lined up, waiting at the fenceline. Once everything is ready, Astrid opens the fence and with a warm "Come cowies, cowies come!" she calls the ladies over to fresh green grass.

Only grass, water and fresh air - that´s how our cows turn sunlight into delishious milk and one day into valuable meat.

We value our animals and the daily work with them makes for a special bond. But behind this harmonic dance between beast, pasture and man, there is plenty of carefull planning involved. We follow the methods of Holistic Grazing Management and strive to manage for healthy living systems, both above and below the soilsurface. Accordingly we move our cattle daily to provide adequate rest to the grass plants and promote a healthy and deep root system with a diverse and active microbiome. All these complex microbiological processes and the soil vitality are the root-cause for our healthy pastures and in turn healthy animals.

As we talk of healthy animals: At Gut Haidehof we keep the calves with their mothers. This way they can keep drinking as much as they want and grow in a slow and healthy way!