A joke with his wife revealed his passion: Christoph Reichenwallner is a shepherd, although he had never actually planned it.
Wolfersdorf
- It's an idyllic picture: a flock of sheep grazes peacefully on an orchard, including some newborn lambs.
What used to be everyday life has now become a rarity: Christoph Reichenwallner is a shepherd with a heart.
The 26-year-old only started with 35 dams in 2020 after he founded a sheep farm in Wolfersdorf.
He now owns over 140 sheep and has become an integral part of existing grazing projects in the Freising district.
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Sheep used to be something everyday
In agriculture, sheep have been pushed back more and more by cows, chickens and pigs in recent years. While herds of sheep were ubiquitous in the past, the animals are rarely seen these days. That changed a bit in 2020 when Christoph Reichenwallner decided to start a sheep farm: “I started with around forty dams at the beginning of last year,” said the 26-year-old, “I then have all the female lambs from last year to stock up so that I now have over 140 dams. "
The Wolfersdorfer has always felt connected to agriculture.
“I learned farming back then, although we didn't have a business at home that I could have taken over,” said Reichenwallner, “so we're something special today.
A young company, without any previous history. "
Specialized in rare forest sheep
Reichenwallner owes the idea of the sheep to his wife: "She really wanted a meadow orchard, I didn't want to mow and suggested that we could buy four or five sheep," said the young shepherd. From this joking idea, his entire business ultimately emerged. However, Reichenwallner has always known that he would not feel comfortable in commercial animal husbandry. And so, before he started his own business, he was responsible for the animals at Schlossgut Eichethof in Hohenkammer, an organic farm. “For me, working with animals is the most important thing,” says the shepherd, who is close to nature. "That's why a huge fattening farm or a job in the dairy industry would never have been an option for me." The Wolfersdorfers' animals are not ordinary domestic sheep. He has focused on the rareFor some time even specialized in the endangered breed of forest sheep. But the forest sheep are ideal for landscape maintenance: “The breed is an absolute all-rounder,” explains the shepherd.
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The black sheep are in the majority in Christoph Reichenwallner's herd.
They have a permanent pasture location in Weihenstephan.
© Pascale Fuchs
Forest sheep are not picky, very sure-footed and robust and, due to their low weight, hardly leave any damage to the grazed areas.
Christoph Reichenwallner is now the largest breeding company of the rare breed in all of Upper Bavaria.
The trademark of his company is the special coat color of his animals: "Normally, black fur is a rarity among forest sheep, but I have mostly black animals."
Weihenstephan is a permanent pasture location
Shortly after the founding of his sheep farm, the first inquiries came to drive the sheep from Wolfersdorf to designated areas and use them for grazing projects.
"The grazing is one of the main sources of income for a shepherd, we basically live from the subsidies," explains the sheep expert.
However, the 26-year-old was only able to top up properly when the inquiry from the Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences came: "The landscape conservation association approached me because they were urgently looking for someone to graze on compensation areas around the university," said the shepherd, reviewing his career .
"Since then we have around 80 animals permanently with Weihenstephan, the second herd, consisting of 60 animals, we drive on constantly changing grazing projects around Zolling and Wolfersdorf."
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Pure idyll: a little lamb a few days old is resting under the protection of the herd.
© Pascale Fuchs
Agricultural land that sheep can graze on is just as dwindling a commodity as sheep farming itself: "The excessive agriculture in recent years and decades has contributed greatly to the decline in sheep farms," explained the young shepherd. “If I drive manure onto a meadow today, then there won't be any sheep left to eat for at least the next three years.” In addition to loving animals, a shepherd's farm has one thing above all else: hard work. Reichenwallner's week has an average of 75 hours, which he spends on animals with almost no help. "My father only helps me with moving the mobile herd," says the young sheep farmer. In addition to the grazing projects, there is still some other work to do with his sheep. For example, the use of wool was a big issue for the Wolfersdorfer.
The sheep are sheared twice a year.
In the declining wool industry, however, the predominantly black wool from Wolfersdorfer breeding sheep is not used.
“However, I didn't see why I should just throw away such a valuable raw material,” says Christoph Reichenwallner.
"Our approximately 350 kilos of wool that accrue annually are therefore used to make fertilizer pellets." Here, too, he follows the trend of paying more attention to sustainability in raw material extraction.
But no matter what happens next - Reichenwallner is wholeheartedly committed to his sheep breeding: "Anyone who is once infected with the sheep virus will never want to do anything else again," he said with a wink.
Pascale Fuchs
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