The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowHet Zuivelmeisje
- Cattle, sheep or goats graze on pasture in the grazing season
Het Zuivelmeisje is the farm dairy and shop of a dairy farm of about 130 cows in the polder between Hekelingen and Simonshaven, where part of the milk is made into dairy on the farm.
The milk is processed in a dairy unit on the farm itself and sold in the shop with no one in between. The range changes regularly but includes pasteurised milk, chocolate milk, yoghurt and fruit yoghurt, hangop (strained yoghurt) in several flavours, custards, farm buttermilk, flavoured buttermilk drinks, farm butter and kefir. Their website does not say whether the butter is made from raw or pasteurised cream. Everything is packed in glass bottles and jars with a deposit, which is refunded when you bring them back clean, and the products are tested by the dairy inspection body COKZ every eight weeks.
The shop is open on Saturdays, at Riethilseweg 1; their website gives two sets of hours, 9:30 to 14:30 and 10:00 to 15:00, so it is worth checking before you go. During opening hours visitors are welcome to look in on the cows.
The cows are out in the meadow at least 180 days a year, and in the barn they move freely, each with its own place to lie.