Prickings yard

Prickings yard
Founding:	circa 1960
Size:	approx. 500 ha
Address:	Niehuser Weg 14 45721 Haltern am See district Lehmbraken

Prickings yard

Oversized vending machine for sausages

The Prickings-Hof is a farm in Haltern am See in North Rhine-Westphalia , a destination and a commercially marketed privately owned attraction . On a tour of around 1.5 kilometers you can see an active farm up close. Sales events are also held on the farm.

history

The Prickings-Hof was founded between 1958 and 1962 by Ewald Döpper (1929–1994) together with his wife Maria-Henriette, nee. Pricking built up. In the first few years new stables were built for 20 cows, 30 fattening bulls, 20 breeding sows, 300 fattening pigs, 8 dairy cows, 4 cattle, 30 chickens and 2 horses. A small slaughterhouse and a rural tasting room were added later. The Döppers also set up a farm sale for meat and sausages.

There is also a restaurant which, according to its own statements, is Germany's largest rural dining establishment . The restaurant is geared towards large portions. There are bags available so that you can take the leftovers of your own meal home with you.

Today the Prickings-Hof covers around 500 hectares of land and around 2500 animals.

Attractions

In the 1980s, the Prickings-Hof was expanded to include a small recreational park . Around 1,000 agricultural implements, restored machines and tractors can be viewed on the tour . In rural museum are beyond several Cadillac - vintage cars , the farmer Ewald had acquired because of his passion for collecting.

All vehicles are considered ready to drive and are used on special occasions. For example, one of the classic cars with a chauffeur can be rented as a wedding vehicle.

In addition to an open game enclosure in the rhododendron leisure and recreation park, there was also the so-called giant of Colombia , marketed by the Prickings-Hof as the “largest breeding bull in the world” , which farmer Ewald bought at auction in the late 1980s.

media

For the documentary Under German Roofs . Bauer Ewalds Wirtschaftswunder received Constantin Pauli the 1985 Ernst Schneider Prize (special prize).

In addition to repeated visits by regional, national and international media to the courtyard, Larry Hagman's flight in for Döpper's 65th birthday in the summer of 1994 was particularly popular .

Critical voices were raised regarding the coffee trips to the Prickings-Hof. In 2016, a ZDF documentary about the coffee trip business model was produced.

The PETA Germany association criticized the state of animal husbandry on the site. After a criminal complaint by the organization, there was an investigation against the Prickings-Hof, which was discontinued. In June 2012, the Hamm public prosecutor's office ordered the Essen public prosecutor's office to resume the investigation. In a report by the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2014, it says: "The animals on the farm all show good nutritional, care and health conditions."