From the meadow to the shelf Part 1: Where does the milk come from and how does it get to WOERLE?

WOERLE is already working according to the Purity Law of 5 in the 1889th generation. What does that mean? Pure, high-quality cheese needs the best milk quality as a basis. Fresh, silo-free and from hay milk cows. Where does this milk come from? From the cows of our almost 500 farmers, from a radius of about 50 kilometers to the cheese dairy. 

Hay milk production dates back to the 5th century BC. It is the most original form of dairy farming. Only here is the milk obtained in such a natural and traditional way and provides the very best raw material for cheese production. Gerrit WOERLE's great-great-grandfather had been using only hay milk for the production of Emmental and mountain cheese since 1889. Over the many decades, WOERLE has thus created one of the largest contiguous hay milk regions in Europe - the Salzburger Flachgau and the adjacent Mondseeland.

With their fertile soil and unique climate, the Flachgau and the Mondseeland offer the best conditions for a beautiful (cow) life. At the WOERLE hay milk farmers, everything is geared towards nature. The cows spend most of their lives in the fields and pastures, enjoying fresh grass, flowers and herbs. During the winter they are in the (play)pen and eat sun-dried hay. The farmers do without silage entirely.

The farmers milk the cows twice a day. Usually very early in the morning, as with our WOERLE hay milk farmers Veronika and Alois Widlroither, more commonly known as Nussbaumer. They are already in the stable at half past four. “Our cows are chilled. They don't have any stress and don't have to be very productive," says the WOERLE hay milk farmer proudly. When the milk is still fresh and lukewarm, you can smell the hay flowers. Mmmmh! Due to the species-appropriate animal husbandry, the cows feel at home on the farm.