St. Wolfgang - Bernhard Frank (27) from St. Wolfgang has been producing willow milk products for two years and is very successful with it.
St. Wolfgang - Anyone who shops at the surrounding farmers' markets or in the St. Wolfgang regional market has probably already seen them, but they are now also on the refrigerated shelves in the supermarket: the willow milk and willow milk yoghurt from St. Wolfgang.
Bernhard Frank from Stangel-Hof has been producing his own products since last year. Two years ago, the now 27-year-old took over the business from his parents and implemented the project he developed during his studies with the farm dairy. After his training, the farmer further expanded and intensified his knowledge by studying agriculture in Weihenstephan. In his bachelor's thesis he dealt precisely with this business development plan for the expansion of the stable and the dairy. He finished his studies in 2021 and turned his parents' part-time business into a full-time business.
His own farm dairy gave him the chance to continue the farm in the long term. “I just wouldn’t have built the stable alone,” he clarifies. Because that would have required an employee in addition to the business, and at some point the farm would no longer have been able to continue. Because “tethered farming is a phased-out model,” the farmer knows. In order to ensure the continued existence of the business, the cows were given a new home. With the new building, “the cows can do whatever they want around the clock.”
Most of the year, the gate to the pasture is open 24 hours a day, allowing them to graze at any time. They also decide for themselves when they want to be milked. Then they walk to the milking robot or wait patiently when it is busy. With the expansion, the stable with the adjacent pasture area has achieved husbandry type 4. There would be space for a total of 64 cows, 58 currently live on the Stangel farm - and each of them has its own name. In addition to plenty of space in the stable, they also have 4.5 hectares of pasture. By moving to the spacious stable, “the cows have become significantly more relaxed,” says Frank. In the past, there was quickly unrest when someone entered the stable because the animals were startled or knew that food would soon be available. The cows are also significantly less susceptible to illness. That makes him happy because “animal welfare is most important to me.”
With the change in husbandry, the 27-year-old also switched to the Bechtel private dairy. This receives the majority of the milk, but the farmer needs it himself two days a week. He currently processes around 1,500 liters per week into pasture milk and pasture-milk yoghurt, which corresponds to around 10 to 15 percent of the total quantity. “The goal is 25 percent,” says Frank, although the farm dairy is now self-supporting. The pasture milk is pasteurized and preserved there. Otherwise it remains natural “just as it comes from the cow”. The ingredients in the yoghurt are also different than in industrial dairies: the St. Wolfganger willow milk yoghurt does not contain any artificial flavours. It comes in five flavors. Natural yogurt is the most popular, followed by vanilla. There’s also strawberry and peach passion fruit, as well as blueberry – his favorite.
Frank is not alone with the work on the farm. Both his parents and his girlfriend Julia Reiter from Isen help. His girlfriend was “fully into it” and was enthusiastic about the project from the start. When she has time alongside her work at a tax consultancy in Poing, she supports him in accounting and operations.
Every week the Stangel farm dairy fills 300 bottles of milk and 500 jars of yoghurt. Two thirds of yoghurt production goes to commercial kitchens, for example in hospitals. End customers can also buy the products, for example in the St. Wolfgang regional market, at farmers markets, village shops such as in Großschwindau or Oberornau as well as in Edeka Haag and Rewe Dorfen. Rewe branches in Erding and Wasserburg will soon be added. At the Stangel farm there are also two full refrigerators with the farm's own products available for sale.
In the summer, the pasture milk may also come to the attention of connoisseurs, as the ice cream parlors are on the farmer's list of possible customers. “The fatter milk makes the ice cream creamier,” he was already assured at the Smeralda ice cream parlor in Hague.
Developed the plan in my bachelor's thesis
All 58 cows have their own names
Refrigerators with produce from the farm