Sustainability

Alpine dairy

In 2019, the start of construction of our first own dairy in Gossholz was an absolute novelty in the company's history, taking us a big step forward in environmental protection. The energy efficiency of the dairy is optimised so that CO2 emissions can be largely neutralised.

Since the beginning of 2022, our production at the Goßholz site and in the alpine dairy in Hopfen has been officially climate-neutral, and the greenhouse gases (CO2) that are still produced are offset.

Transport

Thanks to whey thickening (4-fold concentration) and centralised production, we save a total of almost 100,000 lorry kilometres, which corresponds to 2.5 times around the world (one lap = approx. 40,000 km). Where whey used to be transported directly from the boiler for further processing, we can now thicken it so that it has less volume and we save valuable kilometres.

Water

During the whey thickening process, permeate is produced, which is whey water that is used for cleaning and as cooling water. This enables us to save 25m³ of fresh water every day, which is equivalent to around 167 full bathtubs.

Fossil fuels

We are happy to spend more money on the purchase of fossil-free energy sources, in order to completely dispense with fossil fuels. Our biogas comes from the region and is obtained by utilising food waste.

Electricity

Our in-house photovoltaic system covers half of the electricity consumption for the entire company, with all of the purchased electricity coming from hydropower. In summer, we will probably even be able to switch off the combined heat and power plant, as the electricity from the photovoltaic system will be sufficient to supply the entire company with electricity.

Process energy

Thanks to our heat exchanger, thermal energy can be saved directly during the cheese-making process. The organic pasture milk arrives at around 6 degrees and is heated to 32 degrees for cheesemaking. We need heat energy for this, while the 35 to 50-degree whey produced has to be cooled with cold energy. Our heat exchanger uses cold energy from cold milk to cool warm whey and vice versa. This means that over 50% of the cooling and heating energy required is recycled.

Heating

Our chiller is equipped with a heat recovery system – so we use it as a heat pump at the same time and generate all our heating and hot water. The heat pump is a machine that absorbs thermal energy from a reservoir at a lower temperature and transfers it as useful heat to a system to be heated at a higher temperature.

Pasture milk

This type of milk is the most natural of its kind. As the name suggests, the diet of a hay-milk cow includes lots of different grasses and herbs – in summer there is a variety of forage plants in meadows and pastures, and in winter healthy, farm-grown hay. Our traditional, regional Allgäu Brown Swiss cow breed causes significantly less trampling damage due to its lower weight, which protects the sensitive swards from erosion and thus avoids permanent reseeding. Plants also get the impulse to grow when cows graze. The plant density on the meadows thus grows in a natural cycle and the farmer saves on fertilisers that would have to be used on heavily used areas. Even when it comes to promoting biodiversity our hay-milk farmers are way ahead when it comes to sustainability: they let meadows and pastures grow longer and only mow when grasses and herbs have flowered. In addition, mountain areas and the Alps are not misappropriated, but used traditionally and economically, so that the forest cannot spread arbitrarily onto meadows and pastures.

Our own natural cheese cultures

Baldauf cheese is made using the company's own milk cultures, a tradition in the cheese-making trade that hardly anyone still practises today. It is important to us to cheese the milk as naturally as possible and, unlike many other cheese dairies, we do not use synthetic additives or industrially prepared cultures. Many years ago, we set up our own laboratory at the head office, where not only the quality of milk and cheese is tested, but a laboratory technician and a trainee are now constantly researching new cultures in the milk that are suitable for cheese. These cheese cultures are cultivated, refined, supplemented and further developed until they are added to the milk and give our Baldauf cheese its unique flavour.

A look into the future

We are still a long way from our final destination! On the one hand, because environmental protection has to adapt to external requirements and circumstances and, on the other, because many projects require a longer lead time for implementation. Our focus is always on long-term, stable change. We want to save around 50% of all energy in the dairy in future. Over the next five years, the combined heat and power plant in the Goßholzer alpine dairy is to be expanded and the process energy electrified by supporting our process heat generation with a heat pump. This would mean that Baldauf could produce completely emission-free and thus become a zero-emission dairy. All process heat is to be generated by heat pumps. As a first step, we are currently planning the concrete implementation so that the alpine dairy can operate completely without CO2 during the summer months.

Animal welfare - Calf & Cow

Cow-linked calf rearing is a major issue for our farmers. Some of our organic farmers are currently rearing their calves in accordance with the guidelines of IG Kuh und Kalb, an interest group of organic milk producers and organic associations for the promotion of cow-based calf rearing. With our project – the organic cheese KALB & KUH – we hope to be able to convince more farmers of this more animal-friendly form of husbandry in the future. A reduction in the CO2 balance also affects the Baldauf farmers. A lot can be achieved by purchasing PV systems or CO2-free hay drying. A kind of bonus point system is being considered here to promote environmentally friendly business practices.