Meat Farm
During my vacation in Germany, I--Anne--visited an organic meat farm. They raise calves for organic veal. The farm is up in the mountains of the Allgaeu in Bavarian Germany. In 1999, the farm switched from milk cows to meat cows. The farm owns 25 cows and one bull. The breed of cows they have is German Angus. The cows live in an open barn so they can go on the field and come back whenever they please.
The cows mostly graze on grass but in the winter the cows get fed ensilage, a kind of grain feed also produced on the farm.The mother cows have calves once a year in the winter. The calves drink mother-cow milk until they are nine months old. Then they are brought away to be slaughtered. After butchering the meat is given back to the farm. Then the farmer herself does all the packaging and distribution.
In order to be certified organic, the farm must let their fields grow for 2-4 years and then let it be tested for any pesticides. The field must be pesticide-free. The cows are not allowed to be fed any grain with additives like antibiotics or hormones. All feed must be organic. If a cow gets sick it is treated with natural medicine.
We bought hot dogs there which were not labeled certified organic because the spices in the hot dogs were conventionally (= non-organically) grown.
My favorite part was taking pictures of the cows and seeing everything. It was very interesting.