Quality by respecting Nature

Animal husbandry plays a central role in bio-dynamic farming. Demeter is the only ecological agricultural organisation which prescribes animal husbandry as an obligatory activity, thus creating a consistent cycle.
Demeter is a trend-setter when it comes to keeping animals in a way which is appropriate to their needs. Demeter cows, for example, have horns, sparing them from the painful de-horning procedure. Demeter farmers are firmly convinced that the integrity and physical inviolability of all forms of life is key to the positive development of farms as holistic organisms.

Criteria for Demeter animal husbandry

• Animals must be kept in a manner appropriate to their needs, with plenty of space and outdoor exercise
• Animal welfare by respecting animals as complete entities - thus no de-horning or clipping of beaks
• 100 % organic feed, the majority of which must be grown on the farm
• Priority given to natural healing processes when animals become ill
• Processing which preserves quality

Quality thanks to ethical animal husbandry guidelines

For many years now Holle has been sourcing its poultry meat from the Demeter farm Bauckhof Klein Süstedt. The owner, Carsten Bauck, is one of the main initiators of the Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland (BID - German Brother Rooster Project) founded in 2012. The project adheres to comprehensive ecological and ethical guidelines for the breeding of laying hens and broilers.  
Holle has been supporting the Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland since 2013 by purchasing guaranteed quantities of meat produced within the scope of brother rooster rearing. As of March 2014 Holle will be using only chicken sourced from brother rooster rearing at Bauckhof for its Organic Baby Jars with chicken.

Setting new standards by doing away with an unethical practice

The Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland has taken up the cause of developing alternatives and ethically justifiable solutions to the one-sided rearing common in conventional poultry husbandry. For example by breeding dual-purpose races; extending the length of use of birds or by rearing laying hens' male chicks instead of killing them immediately after hatching because they are not considered profitable.

The Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland addresses the urgent issue of brother roosters and has developed an alternative method for dealing with the brothers of laying hens - all the brothers of laying hens are reared, even if this represents an additional financial cost.

The BID label - The quality guarantee provided by Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland

The Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland seal of approval not only guarantees that brother chicks will be reared but also stands for a comprehensive ecological and ethical approach to chicken husbandry. The birds' feed and living conditions thus meet the highest animal welfare standards. The BID even exceeds these standards with its strict refusal to use antibiotics.

• Brother roosters are reared
• Free form antibiotics
• Demeter quality
• 100% organic feed
• Tested by an independent certification body

The BID label identifies all products (eggs and meat) produced according to BID guidelines. Verification and certification are carried out by independent monitoring bodies. Our certification process is coordinated by the German Gesellschaft für Ressourcenschutz (GFRS, DE ÖKO-039; www.gfrs.de).
Click here for more information about the BID project .

The greatest transparency for the best possible quality

The Bauckhof farm aspires to the greatest possible degree of transparency - for e.g. by installing webcams in all its pens so that consumers can see for themselves at any time how Bauckhof has implemented high standards of chicken welfare.

Take a look at the farmer in his pen: to view more visit the webcam in the Bruderhahn pen at Bauckhof Klein Süstedt.

Why not rearing turkeys is consistent

The Bauckhof farm decided to initiate the Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland project for ethical reasons. This is also why Carsten Bauck, how has been supplying Holle with Demeter poultry meat for many years now, no longer rears turkeys. Due to the nature of the turkey breeds currently available, which have been bred to produce breast meat, no matter how hard the farm worked it would still not be able to fully meet its own standards for ethically correct animal husbandry. Holle has thus decided to discontinue its turkey products. From March 2014 Holle Organic Baby Jars with poultry meat will be produced exclusively with chicken sourced from brother roosters reared within the scope of the Bruderhahn Initiative Deutschland project.

Please click here for more information about the decision taken by our Demeter poultry meat supplier, Bauckhof Klein Süstedt, to no longer rear turkeys.