Boerderij De Houberg

Boerderij De Houberg is a regenerative farm on the Ossenwaard in Herwen that sells only what it raises itself: beef, pork, chicken, eggs and seasonal fruit.

The Lakenvelder cattle live outside as much as possible all year in a family herd with the calves at foot, eating only the grasses and herbs of the meadows; most bull calves are raised as oxen and slaughtered at three. The purebred Wagyu herd is out day and night through the grazing season and on hay with an outdoor run in winter, also fully grass-fed. The Mangalica pigs, a Hungarian woolly breed, forage in the woods; their hams, necks and belly are smoked and dried, and their fat is made into lardo. Chicks go out to pasture at four to six weeks, roost in a mobile coop moved daily and get no medicines or antibiotics, and 50 laying hens live in a mobile hen cart. Cuts include shank slices, tongue and Wagyu cheek, and chicken fillet in season. The farm is certified organic (SKAL); we found its certificate in the register.

The farm shop at Ossenwaard 5 (not Houberg 1, where navigation may send you) is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00, self-service except on Saturday mornings until 13:00, and webshop orders are collected there.

The cattle graze among hedges and trees, eating their leaves and twigs, and the land gets no chemical inputs and as little ploughing as possible.