Organic? It was the logical thing for Matthias!

At Tantscherhof there have always been cows and a butchers shop, which his brother Thomas now runs. When his father leased out the meadows in order to expand the butchers, Matthias went back to his trained profession as a baker. Until the stress and pressure to perform became too much and his love of animals took him back to the farming.

What Matthias had in mind was a stall where the cows feel happy and produce high quality milk, but without being put under pressure to do so. He travelled around, found inspiration and instructed an architect to implement his ideas. At the beginning, he was laughed at, but Matthias stayed true to his philosophy. In their hypermodern, electrosmog-free cowshed, calves and cows can stretch and put their heads out in the sunshine and enjoy a fantastic view. The front of the shed and the stall doors are open every day in all seasons of the year. “Cows like it when it’s cool,” says Matthias. “They have two hectares of meadow to themselves and can go outside whenever they want.”

If a cow has fresh air and can move around, then she’s happy. And if the cow is happy, she’ll produce good milk.

Matthias Ploner

Before milking, Matthias cleans and stimulates the udder with wood shavings and lubricates it afterwards with aloe vera. He always consults his homeopathy book when a cow gets sick. The organic farmer works with globules and recognised bacteria to aid the cows’ digestion. He has also done courses, read up a lot and he always has experts come to his farm. Matthias was also the driving force behind delivering organic milk out of Laion for further processing. The village residents appreciate it, are aware of its organic quality and consciously buy this milk because it comes from their own village.

Every day, Matthias rides at quarter past four in the morning by e-bike from his home to the farm. That is part of his fundamental attitude to life and is more compatible with his philosophy, which quite clearly comes from nature and the environment.

He consciously avoids stress in his cowshed, because his cows feel it too. If Matthias is under time pressure and has to be quick, the animals pick up on that and get nervous. The cows trust him and there is even one that follows him around wherever he goes.