Animal vacationers on the farm

Created: 12/18/2021, 6:00 PM

From: Alexandra Anderka

Melanie Huber is happy with her pension cattle.

Around 100 Wagyu cattle cavort on the pastures around the farm in Bocköd near Forstern all year round.

© Alexandra Anderka

The Hubers from Bocköd near Forstern do not only accommodate holidaymakers in their cozy holiday apartments.

Around 100 cattle of the noble Wagyu breed also live there “for rent”.

Bocköd

- About five years ago Melanie Huber (38) and her husband Willy (42) made the decision to give up tethering and look for alternative animal husbandry.

“It was all old, we should have built a new stable, but we didn't like the tethering any more,” remembers Melanie Huber. One day when she was standing in the calf barn and everything was getting too much for her, she had a conversation with a friend who looks after Wagyu cattle on her farm in the Ebersberg district. The owner of the animals is Franz Kirchner from Munich. "Does Mr. Kirchner need any other shelter for his animals?" She asked her friend. Two days later, Kirchner was at the Huber's farm. The two parties quickly came to an agreement.

The Hubers converted the machine hall into a modern, spacious barn and the first 40 Wagyu cattle moved in. “The cattle live like in paradise”, the holiday guests would assert again and again. And there is something to it: most of the year the animals are on the pasture with the adjacent forest. “You can even go for a walk in the woods if you want,” jokes the trained office clerk. She herself regularly goes to the clearing in summer. “When a cattle stands there in the sunset, it's an indescribable moment,” enthuses the farmer.

In addition to the excellent meat, she particularly appreciates the calm disposition of the breed. "Simmental cattle have power, and the Angus cattle can be deceitful, but with the Wagyu cattle I dare to go out into the pasture without further ado," she says. Because of the innate cosiness, the cattle would also go well with their five donkeys and nine sheep, the Karlsdorf woman is happy to say.

After suckling cows, the calves come to the Huber farm when they are around six months old. They stay there until they are around four years old. Franz Kirchner only breeds purebred Japanese fullblood Wagyu cattle and no fast-growing crossbreeds. “That is why the age of our animals at slaughter is at least 48 months,” explains Huber. Depending on the order quantity, the animals are then picked up and taken to Huber's friend at the finishing stables. There they are looked after by the butcher for around a month, who then slaughters them. “They don't even notice it,” says Huber. A cow grew so dear to her heart. “I then visited it again in the finishing stables,” she says. The animals are doing just as well there as they are on her farm, she assures.

And then there is also “tornado”.

He is Franz Kirchner's first breeding bull, and he is not slaughtered either.

"He can stay with us until the end of his life."

Melanie Huber and her husband are happy to have dared to take this step.

The work is not necessarily less, but they have more freedom because they no longer have to milk twice a day.

"And it gives you a very satisfying feeling when you see the animals in the pasture and notice how well they are."

In addition to the outstanding meat, "which cannot be compared with the taste of normal beef", the countrywoman loves duck breast - and this year there is it on Boxing Day, where the family meets on the farm in Bocköd (see recipe below).

Recipe: crispy duck breast

Ingredients

: 4 duck breasts with skin, 1 onion finely diced, 2 sprigs of rosemary, salt and pepper, roast spices, duck stock or broth, 1-2 tablespoons.

Honey and juice from an organic orange, 1 teaspoon cornstarch or flour mixed in cold water.

Preparation

: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees top and bottom heat.

Wash the duck breasts, pat dry and scratch the skin crosswise with a sharp knife.

Fry the meat in a hot pan over medium heat and without fat for about 2 minutes on each side.

Season with roasting spices, salt and pepper.

Add the rosemary sprigs.

Take the breasts out of the pan and place in a baking dish.

Brush with a little honey and orange juice and place in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Fry the onions in the pan.

Deglaze with orange juice and stock or stock.

Salt and pepper and add the starch mixed in water.

Bring to the boil and season to taste.

Serve the breasts with Brussels sprouts, potato dumplings, red cabbage, sauce and cranberries.