Leibertingen Part two

Unusual tree trunks

Fufee the horse

Firewood stack four levels high

just some snow

Delwyn with Sultan the bull

                                                       Murray cutting down a dead tree

The pathway to Burg Wildenstein

Murray showing his welding skills 

Milch(milk) sheep at a nearby farm

Rocky outcrops of limestone - massively high

We were lucky enough to get some free time to have a look around the village and local attractions.  One day we walked to Burg Wildenstien, a hugh old fortified castle built between 1100 - 1200 AC.  Today it is used as a cheap form of hostel accommodation, and there are many conferences held there.  When we went there was no one around, so we didn't get a look inside, but from the outside it looked pretty amazing.  It was built on one of these high limestone rocks.  The area we were in is part of the Swaibien Albs (not Alps).  This is a limestone seam that runs from the north way above Munich were it is known as the Franken Albs, then down the Danube River Valley as the Swaibein Albs, then into Switzerland were it becomes the Swiss Alps.  A beautiful place to visit in summer, the scenery must be amazing.  It is very popular with bikers and hikers.   

We also visited a milk sheep farm.  They run about 300 ewes, with 60 replacement ewes.  Each sheep produced 300 litres per year, of which 250 l was sell-able by the time the lamb had its share.  From the milk they produced cheese and yogurt.   The sheep were in the shed and feed just silage from about November through to April, and then were out in the meadow.  They also had a massive hay barn, which had its roof covered in solar panels, which produced about 5 times the amount of power than they personally required.  They sold it to the village grid.

The bio farm we visited the following day was also really interesting.  It was 400 hectares and they had cattle housed in sloping barns.  Very clever idea.  The highest level was were they were encouraged to sleep with straw laid down, and the idea was as they moved around they would push the shitty stuff down which would eventually end up on the flat part of the pen, then the tractor could come in and scoop up all the used stuff and take it away to the silage pit.  From here it was taken through a process which extracted the methane gas from it which was then piped to the village and used to heat the water for the village houses. The silage was put outside the pen and the cattle had to reach through a head gate to get a feed, and they could also close the gates - locking the heads for drenching or whatever else.  The machinery was plentiful, with huge trucks, tractors and trailers.  A cool set up, very organised.  The wife also ran a shop which was adjacent to the slaughtering house.  It had meats, and some other brought in products like cheeses, wines, pickles and crafts etc.  We got a tour of the slaughtering house as well.  Not that different to ours really.  The farm house was by far the smallest building on the property and dates back to around the 1890's.

Cola and Perre 

Some big wood !  about 50 years old

Thule and Hans in our guesthouse, sitting on the clay oven seat