And?

Farmer Franz had asked us if we would like to visit a new dairy stable that had been built in nearby Holzgünz, a parish of 1200 inhabitants and very rural. At the turn of the century (1999) there were 81 farms.

One farmer with a particular interest in Swiss "Braunvieh" who had a 40-year-old stable, one of the earliest to be a "walkabout" stable had drawn up his plan for a new one. Back then almost all stables were those where the cows are chained up 24 hours a day. This new system was then thought to be short-lived and wouldn't work. Well, now it is the standard expected.

This latest stable (73 m x 31 m)  is built for about 180 cows and packed with technical help. Two milking robots not only do their job at the cows own leisure, they also check their health. A feed robot whizzes around by itself handing out pelleted feed and returns to base to recharge its own batteries and feed. The area where the cows walk and offload their muck is cleared by preprogrammed scrapers. The heat from the milk is used to produce warm water, heat the building and nearby houses.

With milk quotas now a thing of the past, this may be the way things go. Investment is thought to have been between 2 - 2.5 million Euros. The decision as to what to do is one facing the majority of farmers in this area, amongst others our Farmer Franz Family.

There are several photos of the open day on Flickr.

Was an interesting few hours. I tried to persuade Angie to buy the horses an automatic electric back scratcher and Franz knowing the dealer was sure he could get a good deal - sadly they are of no use for horses as the tails get wrapped in the brushes. Oh well, at least we managed a bit of food and drink. No milk on offer but as usual in Bavaria, lots of beer.

Had wanted to visit a traditional music festival near here in the afternoon but Angie insisted I had to change the tyres on her car from winter to summer. That was then my day done apart from a bit of beehive box cleaning.