Fodder Hedges at Annelies and Pieter’s

Welcome to Flanders and more specifically to Lokeren, at Annelies and Pieter’s for a fodder hedge project.

In 2008, the couple took over the family farm, a legacy from Pieter’s father. On their farm, they raise nearly seventy Blonde d’Aquitaine cattle. Everything happens as naturally as possible and with minimal human intervention. The bull does its job, and the cows calve naturally.
The farm has been entirely organic since 2016, which means they use neither fertilizers nor pesticides on their 15 hectares of meadows.

Their motto: Taking care of nature and the soil, a true foundation, these are our best allies. Thanks to excellent collaboration with the non-profit organizations Durme and Natuurpunt, their cows can graze outdoors for almost an entire year.

Driven by Annelies and a contact from Jacinte of Farming for Climate, the project includes 410 meters of diversified and fodder hedge; as well as 15 poplar saplings to replenish a linear planting along the edge of a meadow.

The first meeting with Annelies took place in August 2024. We took the time to listen to her concerns, to determine the desired hedge lines and functions.

• Improve the well-being of the cows, who will eventually be able to find shade there
• Provide fodder,
• Strengthen the ecological network within the farm.
  

De Vierklaver: A Short-Chain Farm Butcher Shop

The cows remain on the farm for 6 to 10 years. This ensures very tasty meat. Their diet is based solely on grass and clover as fodder (while waiting for the hedge). As soon as weather conditions permit, the cattle go out to pasture.
De Vierklaver is a farm butcher shop with a long history that consciously chooses natural meat and a sustainable production process. Pieter Van Poucke and his wife Annelies Marchand run the butcher shop and sell short-chain products there without added flavorings or preservatives.