Luck in cultivation

Corn is now also at home in Salzburger Lungau

Karin and Rene Dorfer from Tamsweg are maize pioneers, so to speak

(Bild: Roland Holitzky)

Tamsweg farmers tried their luck in cultivation - with success. A former experiment is now part of everyday life at the Mechtlerhof farm in tranquil Lungau. Maize is also the perfect feed for the 23 suckler cows and their calves.

It all started with ski poles. That was eight years ago," says Karin Dorfer. Although the farmer from the Mechtlerhof farm in Tamsweg is a former ski instructor and still an enthusiastic winter sportswoman, she used the poles in the fields. To make holes in the ground for corn kernels. Karin and Rene Dorfer wanted to grow forage maize in Lungau for the first time. Years later, the experiment has become routine.

This is normal for other regions and farmers. For us, maize cultivation was simply unthinkable until a few years ago.

Karin Dorfer, Mechtlerhof Tamsweg

Located at an altitude of at least 1000 meters above sea level, the entire Lungau region, with the exception of Ramingstein, is known for its harsh microclimate. Not ideal for the frost-sensitive maize. Nevertheless, the Dorfers tried their luck and were the first farmers in the district to experiment with maize cultivation. "It appealed to me," says the farmer. The forage maize now grows year after year on one hectare. The ski poles used as cultivation aids have given way to machines.

(Bild: Roland Holitzky)

Even the agricultural research institute in Raumberg-Gumpenstein was interested in Dorfer's experiment. Together they tested maize varieties. The most stable ones are now growing out of the ground near Tamsweg.

Karin and Rene Dorfer in front of their maize field

(Bild: Roland Holitzky)

"It was a long journey. Today we can save on feed costs," says Karin Dorfer. 23 suckler cows and the calves are fed maize at the organic farm. Do they notice that it's no longer such a new food source? "Yes, our calves are much stronger than they used to be".