XtraBlatt Issue 02-2020

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Since the summer, the Kinkelbur farm shop has also homemade
“bio” ices on offer, processed into a wide variety of
flavours. The ices are made by Eiscafé Venezia in nearby
Minden, a business that has used milk from this organic farm
for years. Friedrich Kinkelbur says, not without some pride:
“The quality of our milk can be tasted in the ice cream.”
This product is often enjoyed by customers right away,
sitting on chairs on a terrace fronting the farm shop. The
shop itself is run on self-service lines. But there’s still a lot
of customer communication because someone from the
farm is always on hand to help with queries. Owner as well
as employees are happy to feed the hunger for knowledge
about farming. The relaxed and informative manner with
which the explanations are delivered to the public indicate
that this is something the staff have become expert at.
However, marketing all the farm-produced milk this way
would be impossible. So most production goes to the Söbbeke
dairy in Westphalian Gronau. Average lactation in the
herd is 9,300 kg at 4.1 % fat and 3.1 % protein.
85 HA FOR FORAGE
The Kinkelbur cows are fed grass and maize silage supplemented
with hay and concentrate/mineral mix. Whenever
ground conditions allow, the cows are let out for grazing on
pastures around the cubicle barn.
Some 60 ha pasture plus 25 ha clover leys are reserved for
forage harvest, although the somewhat boggy soils can
be a problem. “We have our own tine harrows that follow
the seed drill with the main aim of always establishing a
healthy, dense grass growth that in turn supresses weeds.
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Nearly all the best grasses, and white clover too, don’t
like waterlogged ground, so we have always to keep our
eyes open for tolerant plants in this respect,” he explains,
adding: “Docks are our most important weed because, as
an organically managed farm, we cannot spray them. In
young growth stages, grazing keeps the pest plants down,
although naturally this is not always possible in some fields.
In this respect, it’s not unknown for us to take an 8 ha area
and manually clear it of docks.”
For grass silage, the farmer handles mowing, tedding and
swathing himself. An EasyCut 970 butterfly mower without
conditioner is used. Why no conditioner? “This can shatter
the clover leaves. Additionally, there’s also the danger of
soil contamination of forage when conditioning on our wet
soils.” A nearby contractor comes with a silage harvester or
baler when needed.
As on many other dairy farms, the Kinkelbur business had
to survive forage shortages in 2018 and 2019. Drought
conditions meant that the normal four cuts on pasture
and five on clover leys couldn’t be realised. “Contrary to my
conventionally farming colleagues, I couldn’t simply go to
my neighbours and lease a few hectares of forage maize to
make up any shortfall. My organic certification naturally
doesn’t allow this”, points out Friedrich Kinkelbur. But he has
learnt lessons from the dry years: “Producing a little more
feed than actually needed on the farm, and having feed in
reserve, is really nothing to be ashamed of.”
HAPPY HENS
A completely new enterprise supporting the Kinkelbur
business is egg production, although Friedrich Kinkelbur
says it was never actually planned. “We were more or less
forced into egg production by our customers. Time and
again, we were asked where organic eggs could be bought.
We didn’t have an answer.” For this reason, a laying flock has
been on the farm since March 2020 with a 350-bird mobile
house. This “henmobile” has a great marketing effect as
motorists can see it from the entrance to the village, also
drawing attention to the farm shop that actually came into
existence because of the egg demand. Once a week, the
henmobile, with all its inhabitants, is pulled onto a fresh
piece of pasture, so preventing bare patches developing in
the meadows.
1 Outdoor grazing is obligatory for the farm’s 110-head dairy herd.
2 Available from the farm shop are home-produced milk and
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3 eggs as well as ice cream and farm-reared beef.
4 Friedrich Kinkelbur: a dedicated organic farmer.
5 The path from the farm shop runs across the tidy farmyard and
alongside the cows’ cubicle barn.
The investment involved was not insignificant. Because of
this, a bio egg from the Kinkelbur farm costs 50 c. “But the
organic feed we must use is double the price of conventional
hen feed”, argues the farmer. The egg business is paying off
for the family, the farm eggs being also sold by the nearest
Edeka supermarket. In the farm shop, the week’s supply is
mostly sold out by Thursday. Such success means another
henmobile has already been ordered.
In charge of the shop and the hens for most of the time is
Friedrich’s wife, Ulrike Kinkelbur, until lately fully employed
as teacher at a school for children with learning difficulties.
Now, the latest enterprise means she is needed more than
ever back home on the farm. At the same time, three
full-time staff and a number of faithful helpers ensure
everything runs smoothly, supplying relief labour when
required. Friedrich Kinkelbur: “Working together ensures a
better success than when each works alone. What we share
is our passion for organic farming, the desire to produce food
in harmony with nature.” «
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