Bobalis Farm

After lunch service on Monday afternoon, eight Michelbergers set off on the journey to Jüterbog, a small village around 70km south of Berlin. Our destination was Bobalis, an organic buffalo farm from where we source cheese and meat products which are served in our restaurant. 

We piled into the Fountain of Youth delivery van at the hotel, and then an hour later emerged in a lovely little corner of Brandenburg to be greeted by Elke, an old friend of Stefanie’s.

Elke and her husband have been running the buffalo farm since 1998. They started out with 30 cows and two bulls, and now have 200 buffalo. At any one time, they have 60 milking cows, producing 350 litres of milk a day. 150 of that goes into the cheese and milk products made at the on-site dairy, and the remaining 200 litres goes to feed the calves on the farm. 

All the animals that we saw – from the five day old calves, to the fully grown (700kg!) milking cows, had a certain presence about them. Such strong and intelligent beings, who really seemed to engage with us. And they are happy animals! That much was clear. 

The farm itself is quite picture perfect. The original buildings date back to 1885, and interestingly, it was once owned and ran by Elke’s husband’s great, great, great grandfather! For a time the property was owned by another family, but Elke and her husband purchased the farm in 1989 and turned it into what it is today. 

After Alan got some kisses from a very affectionate little buffalo, Elke invited us inside to sample some of the buratta and bresaola produced by the farm. Delicious, of course. She sent us on our way with a litre of buffalo milk, which we passed around the van on the journey back to Berlin.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the food on your plate didn’t just come from the supermarket shelf or the back of the delivery van. We’re fortunate enough to have access to produce that comes from a farm like Bobalis – a well-kept and pleasant place with happy and healthy animals.