A walk - short - in our short supply chain

Genuine events: the Open Farmhouse

Next opening: September 7th 10:00 - 12:00
For information and registration contact info@carnegenuina.it

How can we explain the concept of short supply chain to the people who come to visit our Cascina (emblem of the network of breeders who collaborate with us)? We are not an educational farm, but every now and then we like to offer a practical demonstration of the path that exists between breeder and consumer and for this reason we periodically open the farmyard of our company to visitors; the morning can be proposed as a fun activity for children in Treviglio, but the trip is enjoyed by people of all ages!

The initiative is called Cascina Aperta and consists of an educational path, short like our supply chain. The path develops through the production phases of our closed-cycle company, explained in 4 main stages.

First stop: the farmhouse meadow

Precisely stable multi-plant meadow, the path begins here, walking on the green and lush meadow that borders the Cascina. Why is it so important? Because this is the type of meadow that guarantees fragrant and nutritious hay to our Italian cattle for what can be defined as a “dry” grass-fed diet, guaranteed for 365 days a year and not limited to the most favorable seasons for grazing. The stable multi-plant meadow is a spontaneous meadow, rich in nutrients, scents and different herbs, which grow freely according to Mother Nature's times. In just a few steps we can recognize dozens of essences, such as clover, alfalfa, plantago lanceolata, dandelion and many others.

Second stop: the barn

This is where the grass from our meadows, dried by the sun and packaged in bales, is stored throughout the year. Not all hay is the same and each bale has its own peculiarity, depending on the type of essence and the time of mowing: May hay, August hay and terzuolo, also called first cut, second cut and third cut and so on. Each hay has different nutritional characteristics and for this reason they must be mixed together, to compose the daily forage for our cattle. In the barn we also explain the fundamental difference between hay, straw and stalks: the first is a food, the second instead comes from crop waste and is mainly used as bedding for stables, which is disposed of in the manure pile and, in winter, returns to the meadows in the form of fertilizer.

Third stage: the stable

Here we are in the place where we can recognize the “ingredients” just discovered in the barn: hay in the mangers, straw and stalks in the cubicles and pens, to provide comfortable clean bedding for the male and female cattle. The protagonists of the barn are them: the dairy cows and beef steers of the F.lli Assanelli Farm, all born in the Cascina, as they once were. We have Friesian cows, black and white, specialized in milk production and we have Belgian Blue crossbreeds, recognizable by their white and blue coat, a breed also known as the “Piemontese of Belgium”. And finally the “VIP” breeds of our barn: Angus and Wagyu raised in Italy, also born here in the Cascina. For Wagyu, the same cattle breed as the famous Japanese meat, we have a cow-calf line and since 2017 we have been following a path of crossbreeding and selection that led, this week, to the birth of a Wagyu calf with 87.5% purity.

Fourth stage: the products

The final products of the farm, namely milk and meat. For the first, we visit the milking parlor, to observe the origin of the milk: here, the Lely Astronaut milking robot takes care of everything! When a cow feels the need to be milked, she approaches the robot and a mechanical arm cleans the udders and collects the milk in the tank: milking takes place in total self-management!

For meat, we visit the headquarters of the Carne Genuina startup, the place from which the products are shipped throughout Italy: 100% Italian zero-impact meat from our cattle and other products from the short supply chains of our genuine network.

An opportunity to breathe the air of the farmhouse

Cascina Aperta allows you to live the authentic experience of the supply chain of a family-run farm, where each step of production is managed by a trusted person. We love to introduce people to our farming reality, allowing you to personally experience the attention, effort and care that farmers put into their work, to appreciate even more the taste and authenticity of a quality product, coming from the short supply chain of a trusted company: Genuine Meat, from the farmer to your table, like it used to be.

Do you want to come and visit us at another time?
Here are the opening hours of the Cascina :

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday: 8:30 - 13:30
Thursday: 11:30 - 13:30
Saturday: 8:30 - 13:00