Today we left Hotel Rheinischer Hof in Duisburg, Germany and headed to Warstein where our first visit of the day was at Elmar Steinruecke's Percheran and horse training farm. We got to walk through the barns and a few of us even had the opportunity to sit on their Percheron Stallion named Sigfreid. This particular farm is also heavily tied to Warsteiner's Brewery, which is where we headed next.

We first stopped in their visitor's center where they were actually preparing for the CEO, Catalina Cramer's wedding. This brewery visit was much different than the others we've been to because you could tell that they specially made it to be quite a tourist attraction and a learning experience for everyone that visits. Over 25,000 bars and 50,000 grocery stores sell Warsteiner's beverages in Germany. Even though this was our third brewery visit, it was very different than all the others we visited. Their brewery is so large that we had to travel around the site by tram.   Thankfully, the tour was narrated by a video audimated tour guide in English! Once our tour was over we were taken to the Warsteiner's restaurant for lunch. We were served a very lunch of sausage and hearty potato and vegetable soup and we also got to try one of their many different beers.

Once we finished lunch, most of us browsed the gift shop and then departed for the Enste-Sieren Family Dairy Farm. The family farm was established in 1961 and became exclusively a dairy operation in 2010. This dairy farm raises around 80 head of cattle that were mostly purebred Holstein and Schwarzbunt. The family milks twice a day at 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. They use a herring bone style milking parlor and a transponder system to check milk quality out of each cow every month. A unique thing that we found was that every single one of their 80 cows had their own name all posted on a chalkboard in the barn as well as the fact that they use the grain from Warsteiner's brewery to feed their cattle. For their marketing scheme, male calves are sold at two weeks of age and all heifers are either kept back as replacements or sold as registered heifer calves across Europe. To sell calves from country to country in the EU, they must all be registered. As the soil quality around the farm is extremely rocky, there is little chance of expanding the farm above the 80 hectares it is today, so the family must be creative in generating additional income so that it can produce for both the father and son's families. After touring the stables and seeing cows of all ages, we went to the top of the hill for delicious ice-cold milk, sparkling water, coffee, and homemade cakes.

We left the farm and then started driving towards Einbeck Germany. After we arrived and got freshened up a bit we attended a light dinner buffet provided by Mr. Rudiger Strohm and KWS Seeds, which is where we will be spending most of our day tomorrow. After dinner concluded we walked into the downtown Einbeck area, where we began our city tour. On this tour, we saw various historic towers and buildings that dated back to the 1500's. Our tour concluded at the oldest Einbeck bar, Brodhaus, where we all enjoyed the local Einbecker beer.

Today we left Hotel Rheinischer Hof in Duisburg, Germany and headed to Warstein where our first visit of the day was at Elmar Steinruecke's Percheran and horse training farm. We got to walk through the barns and a few of us even had the opportunity to sit on their Percheron Stallion named Sigfreid. This particular farm is also heavily tied to Warsteiner's Brewery, which is where we headed next.

We first stopped in their visitor's center where they were actually preparing for the CEO, Catalina Cramer's wedding. This brewery visit was much different than the others we've been to because you could tell that they specially made it to be quite a tourist attraction and a learning experience for everyone that visits. Over 25,000 bars and 50,000 grocery stores sell Warsteiner's beverages in Germany. Even though this was our third brewery visit, it was very different than all the others we visited. Their brewery is so large that we had to travel around the site by tram.   Thankfully, the tour was narrated by a video audimated tour guide in English! Once our tour was over we were taken to the Warsteiner's restaurant for lunch. We were served a very lunch of sausage and hearty potato and vegetable soup and we also got to try one of their many different beers.

Once we finished lunch, most of us browsed the gift shop and then departed for the Enste-Sieren Family Dairy Farm. The family farm was established in 1961 and became exclusively a dairy operation in 2010. This dairy farm raises around 80 head of cattle that were mostly purebred Holstein and Schwarzbunt. The family milks twice a day at 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. They use a herring bone style milking parlor and a transponder system to check milk quality out of each cow every month. A unique thing that we found was that every single one of their 80 cows had their own name all posted on a chalkboard in the barn as well as the fact that they use the grain from Warsteiner's brewery to feed their cattle. For their marketing scheme, male calves are sold at two weeks of age and all heifers are either kept back as replacements or sold as registered heifer calves across Europe. To sell calves from country to country in the EU, they must all be registered. As the soil quality around the farm is extremely rocky, there is little chance of expanding the farm above the 80 hectares it is today, so the family must be creative in generating additional income so that it can produce for both the father and son's families. After touring the stables and seeing cows of all ages, we went to the top of the hill for delicious ice-cold milk, sparkling water, coffee, and homemade cakes.

We left the farm and then started driving towards Einbeck Germany. After we arrived and got freshened up a bit we attended a light dinner buffet provided by Mr. Rudiger Strohm and KWS Seeds, which is where we will be spending most of our day tomorrow. After dinner concluded we walked into the downtown Einbeck area, where we began our city tour. On this tour, we saw various historic towers and buildings that dated back to the 1500's. Our tour concluded at the oldest Einbeck bar, Brodhaus, where we all enjoyed the local Einbecker beer.