Bauerngesellschaft Ziltendorfer Niederung GbR

In Wiesenau we visited the “Bauerngesellschaft Ziltendorfer Niederung GbR”, a family owned farm with a remarkable history. As in many other former East German regions during the post-war period (1953), also in Wiesenau LPG’s (agricultural production coops) were established under government pressure. There were several LPG’s, for milk, pigs and vegetables. In 1976, the various LPG’s merged into a cooperative dairy company with nearly 2,000 dairy cows. After the fall of the wall, the current modern mixed farm was formed, producing milk, arable products and energy.

Robert Schneider is responsible for the fields and its produce. The company is owned by two families, contributing both land and capital. The company has a total of 4,200 hectares, including wildlife habitats and some hunting grounds. About 3,800 ha is worked, mainly with winter wheat, winter rye, winter barley, canola and corn. About 400 ha is used as pasture. On nearly 100% of the arable land they apply farming without a plough.

Furthermore, there are the breeding programs for young cattle, mainly Holstein, the silos, the concentrate production and three biogas plants. The latter provide 1.8 megawatts to the grid. To heat their own building, they partly use thermal energy. A pleasant side effect of the biogas production is the remaining digestate (digested manure) containing many living and dead organisms and minerals. This makes it a valuable and inodorous fertilizer to apply to the fields.

The new barn has room for 2,500 cattle,” Schneider says.

He mentions that this is the first season they have worked with the Condor Endurance. It has now worked 500 hours (7,000 ha). The purchase is primarily motivated by the enthusiasm of colleagues who had experience with the Endurance. For Schneider, the most important factors are reliability, high crop protection effects and the high area performance of the machine.

Torsten, the operator of the sprayer, joins us and adds that he is particularly impressed with the comfort, both in the field and on the road. He is also less dependent on good wind conditions; “Unless it storms, he just carries on spraying. Filling and cleaning goes much faster and in order to clean, he does not even need to step out of the cab anymore. The tank is always empty, so there is almost no residue to clean. It is this kind of enthusiasm that persuaded Schneider to make the purchase.”