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vor 4 Jahren

XtraBlatt Issue 02-2019

ON FARM 2 1 3 make

ON FARM 2 1 3 make mainly hay or haylage and have our own baler and a separate wrapper. This year, I managed exactly 1,282 round bales with about 500 of those wrapped”, explains this sheep farmer. The well-maintained implements are housed in a new machinery shed adjacent to the farmhouse. Other machinery includes three tractors and a wheeled loader. A large dumper trailer proves very useful when the barn is mucked out. For topping work, there’s a front-mounted and a rear-mounted mulcher. BUREAUCRACY Back in the farmhouse we meet Katja Berbalk. The agriculture graduate initially worked in agricultural administration and for the German Agricultural Society (DLG). She’s been busy on the farm for 12 years now, full-time for the past five. Alongside taking care of the farm office and the market sales, there’s also daughter Anna to look after. “There’s more than enough to do”, she remarks. “In fact, we have two separate enterprises here: the sheep production and then the marketing side, including slaughter and meat processing.” Her professional duties range from administration of the tenanted areas of the farmland including contact with the various landowners, through documentation of all business aspects right down to product marketing and customer communication via social media. And the bureaucracy involved flourishes particularly where agriculture is combined with direct marketing. An example of really intense documentation is the required listing of cleaning operations and temperatures in the slaughterhouse. Two years ago, Katja Berbalk proved her high talent for organisation when, supported by the Old German Shepherd Dog Society, the German Federal Sheepdog Trials were staged on the farm. Alongside the actual competition, an animal show was staged, a number of societies and associations were represented, a large farmers’ market was held and, naturally, catering for the many guests had also to be taken care of too. With 1,500 visitors on the Saturday of the event and 6,500 on the following day – many of them with little connection with sheep farming – the end result was an excellent advertisement for sheep farming in general and the farm in particular. 1 Heiko Berbalk, sheep farmer on the Taunus Hills. 2 The flock on Berbalk Hof consists of mainly Rhön sheep. 3 Looking very tasty too: lamb cuts. 4 Katja Berbalk at the farmer market on the Konstablerwache in Frankfurt. MARKET SALES “Our farming business has continually developed”, points out Heiko Berbalk. “This means the structure keeps having to be altered. My parents were very involved with their farming and also established the direct marketing of our products. We’ve always done the slaughtering ourselves, and that was nearly every day, although now only three days in the week. In 2009, we extended and renovated the slaughterhouse for EU certification. Earlier, we sold our customers whole and half lamb carcasses. 18

4 Nowadays, we sell only joints and cuts. And it’s unimportant whether just one cutlet is bought, or 20 of them together, for us it’s no problem. Good advice is naturally included. “Lamb offers many interesting cuts, not just chops or leg of lamb. Let’s take for example the less-attractive neck: cleanly cut out, the meat makes a flavourful and attractive goulash.” Meat cuts are supplemented with a range of sausages at sales points. Also on offer are wool and sheepskin products. The most important retail point is the Konstablerwache farmer market in Frankfurt. “In my view, this is one of the best markets in Germany”, says the sheep farmer. “Only producers can sell there, with no traders allowed. It takes place twice weekly and has been present for over 30 years, first evolving from a harvest thanksgiving event.” The farm also sells at farmer markets in Hessenpark, Schillermarkt and Wiesbaden. Hereto come a number of individual events. “In the meantime, we have cut-back a little”, explains Heiko Berbalk. “Earlier, for example, we were on the road every Advent weekend, sometimes at two or three markets on the same day. We take it a little easier because otherwise both family and farming business would suffer”, he feels. On the other hand, direct sales from the actual farm have intensified. “My elder daughter Selina ensures still more attractivity on this location with her “milk bar”. Following her professional training she’s established her own market enterprise.” FARMYARD ARK Alongside the four different breeds of sheep and goats – from which the Rhön sheep, the brown fell sheep and the Thuringian goats are on the red list of farm animal breeds threatened with extinction – the Berbalk family keep two Tirolean Grauvieh cattle, a hobby of Katja Berbalk’s. There are also several Old German Shepherd Dogs on the farm. Both these breeds are also under threat of extinction. All these rare farm animals mean that Berbalk Hof bears the title “Ark Farm” awarded by the Society for the Conservation of Old and Endangered Livestock Breeds (GEH). Often it’s more the hobby breeder who’s involved in the support of rare breeds, Berbalk Hof being one of the few full-time businesses that takes an exemplary interest in this aspect. “I’ve made my hobby into my profession”, smiles Heiko Berbalk. “I would never have thought that this size of enterprise would have developed. Our activities here are very varied. And I have to admit that it’s still a great pleasure standing at the markets selling our products. Our customers are a pleasure for us. In fact, sometimes I regret a little that I am kept so busy with other aspects. But in end effect I didn’t become a shepherd just to sell mutton and lamb. I did it because I love nature and animals.” « 19