Our farmers
choose consciously

Our farmers work each and every day with love for nature and for animals. It’s no wonder that they choose to work with a cheesemaker who thinks exactly the same way. Because the best organic milk should only go to a cheesemaker who will use it to make the best organic cheese. Fifty organic or biodynamic (Demeter) farmers work together for Bastiaansen Bio in an honest and transparant way.

We are proud to introduce a few of them:

  • Ben & Erik van den Brandhof

    The decision to farm organically suits our way of thinking as well as the surroundings and location of our farm. Our farm is situated in a peat meadow area, which brings with it limitations and challenges, but also offers opportunities.

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    A healthy cow

    To us, being a good farmer is a combination of several factors. It all starts with good animal health; a healthy cow gives healthy milk and contributes to a healthily managed farm. To achieve this the whole process needs to be done right. from breeding and raising calves to dairy cattle and from land use to silaging. How we optimise and combine these factors is always a good challenge.

    My favourite cheese

    That’s a difficult choice… Basil-garlic cheese has a distinct flavour which goes really well with a glass of beer or wine. But my favourite cheese to put in a sandwich is our organic herb cheese, it’s simply a good cheese with that bit more character!

    Proud of our cows

    On our farm we have a nice couple of black and red Holstein Frisian cows. As we have for some time extensively farmed using a lot of grass/silage as feed (no maize), we’ve always gone for a specific group of bulls for breeding. These always provide offspring with a bit more “body” and not necessarily the highest production. We haven’t got the largest cattle, but we do have cows that thrive in our farm’s environment. We really like the Holstein Frisian breed, and it offers a lot of possibilities with regards to breeding, we also enjoy all the different characters of our cows.

  • Ton & Auke Spijkerman

    We try to make production on our farm as sustainable as possible. We do this by feeding our cattle as much home-grown grass as possible. 90% of what our cows eat comes from our own land.

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    Being a good farmer

    Our farm has been organic for the last 25 years and our entire farm is free from the use of antibiotics. The wide variety of wild plants in our pastures adds to the health of both our livestock and our land, this means our cattle stay healthy.

    My favourite cheese

    Our favourite is the Bastiaansen blue cheese. It’s delicious on crackers or crunchy bread, but also in salad or as part of a cheeseboard. It’s a blue cheese with a bit of a kick and that makes it really tasty!

    There is strength in numbers!

    We’re really happy with the room the cooperative gives us to take part in certain milk initiatives which make our way of farming more sustainable and add value to our milk. We are also strong believers in the added value of being part of a cooperative. There is strength in numbers!