Animal husbandry on the Hessian State Domain Frankenhausen

Animal husbandry has a long tradition in Frankenhausen. Since 1831, the livestock was recorded in the electoral records in Marburg. In 1873, for example, 12 horses, 100 head of cattle, 300 sheep and some pigs were kept. With the sheep there was a use of poor grassland areas ('Trieschflächen'). In 1896 there was an increase in the number of draft animals (24 horses and 16 draft oxen). Furthermore, 3 breeding bulls had been acquired and a dairy herd with 30 cows had been built up. The sheep and pig population hardly changed. In 1899, a massive new building was erected, in which, in addition to horses, pigs were also kept in 2 stables in double-row, Danish-style stabling (16 pens of approx. 18 m² each). During the 2nd World War, for example, 300 pigs were kept.

In the 20-ies or 30-ies of the 20th century the farm was converted to preferential milk. The cows were kept in the barn all year round until the end of the 2nd World War. At that time, after the dissolution of the commons, feeding in the barn was recommended to increase milk yield. Dairy farming was then abandoned in 1971, as a number of retail stores in Kassel had closed, reducing sales of the preferred milk. The sheep herd continued to exist until 1976. Since then, the domain has been managed without livestock.

With the takeover of the domain by the University of Kassel, considerations began to resume animal husbandry. The aim was not only to create a teaching and research resource for the livestock sciences of the Department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences, but also to make sensible use of the fodder produced in the crop rotation and to enable a circular economy between soil, plants and animal husbandry.

The cattle breed chosen was the German Schwarzbunte Niederungsrind, a dual-purpose breed originally native to this region and threatened with extinction. For the fattening of the male calves, the Schwarzbunte Niederungsrind is particularly interesting as a dual-purpose cattle.

With the help of numerous sponsors (foundations, companies and private persons) about 100 young animals could be purchased in East Frisia, Schleswig-Holstein, Brandenburg and Hesse. Several stud bulls are kept, which come from our own offspring or are purchased. The calves are not dehorned.

Since June 2001 the cows are milked in the newly built dairy barn. It is a free stall barn for 100 animals. The barn has half cubicles and half deep litter, the walkways are paved, all animals have access to the yard. Four performance or experimental groups can be formed. The barn is located in the immediate vicinity of the grassland to allow grazing. Milking is done in a double-six herringbone milking parlor with Happel system and automatic milk quantity measurement. The milk is marketed as organic milk through the Upländer Bauernmolkerei in Usseln.

The offspring are kept in group pens on deep litter in a new open-front barn built at the end of 2007.

The 670 laying hens are kept in two housing systems: They spend the summer in a self-developed mobile coop on a field feed area, and in winter they have their coop in a frost-proof old building.
Here, too, the choice fell on a dual-purpose breed to enable ethical handling of animals of both sexes in chicken farming.