When we arrived in Croatia, we spent ten days in the Istria region which is full of local specialties (white truffles, wine, fish, cheese and olive oil of course). Istria is a tongue of land surrounded by the Adriatic, on the border with Italy and Slovenia. The regional flag features the iconic Istrian goat. Iconic because there are a lot of goats there? Not only !
At the end of the war in Yugoslavia in 1996, the Italian author of Croatian origin Nelida Milani wrote in a collection of short stories: “The new border drawn, a place is chosen to build the gatehouse for the border officers. The old people around warn the builders, telling them that this place is the crossing point for the departing dead, returning exiles and calving goats. Notwithstanding the recommendations, border guards settle in. A daily struggle then begins for them. Every morning, a goat comes to defecate in and around the gatehouse. The furious border gards kill them one after the other without ever succeeding in exhausting the herd ”. It is understandable then, that if Istria is symbolized by a goat, it is not so much for its breeding as to express the independent and capricious character of its inhabitants!
It was with great naivety that we discovered Aleš's farm, where we can find the largest herd of goats in the region. When we mentioned the Istrian symbol, Aleš replied: “The goat in Istria? It's on the flag but it's not that many! Istria would certainly have preferred Boškarin* as a symbol of the region! ”.
After a 25-year career as a real estate lawyer, this native Slovenian started his Kumparička farm from nothing in 2009, buying a few abandoned buildings. Aleš owns 300 Istrian dairy goats reared in organic farming on 260 hectares of scrubland. All the milk produced by his goats is processed on the farm. The vast majority of milk is used in the production of cheese (fresh or matured up to 4 years) sold on the farm, as well as in restaurants and in a few shops. Aleš also offers tastings of his cheeses, considered to be the best goat cheeses in Croatia. Even Gordon Ramsay came to taste them! The milk is also used to make other products like yogurt, ricotta, and a goat's milk caramel which definitely worths it ! Aleš told us that the best cheese he has ever produced is a cheese he has forgotten under the seat of his car for years ...
For Aleš, organic farming is an easy philosophy and practice to implement on his farm. At home, the goats are fed almost exclusively by grazing plants from the bush. He does not relate any health problems with his animals requiring the intervention of the veterinarian (no mastitis, no problems during birth, etc.). According to Aleš, the diversity of plants present in the Istrian scrub (180 species, or 3 times more than in the Provençal scrub!) Allows his goats to take care of themselves: “When they have a problem with health, goats adapt their diet, they change their diet and will eat the plants that their body needs for a few days ”. A scrub-pharmacy in a way!
The kids are reared and slaughtered in Istria, then marketed for meat. As in Slovenia, here we eat kid meat (we even tasted it at Aleš, who shared his meal with us! On the menu: cabbage soup, roast kid and flageolet beans, cheese plate and Istrian wine) . The culture is very different in the Balkans compared to France. While with us, goat's milk is the only product valued nationally, the consumption of goat meat in the Balkans is an important way of valuation and this trend is more and more pronounced as we go down towards the Turkey.
Aleš works with employees who manage raising, milking and cheese making. An additional person works for the farm, as a seller of the products at the Pula market. In total, 4 to 6 people work on the farm depending on the season. Aleš thinks he doesn't have that much work (after spending an entire afternoon at home eating goat cheese and cheese with a little local wine, we can only nod!). Like any self-respecting Croatian, one of his goals is to work less: “I don't understand these people who think about work, work, work. Here, it is the goats who work ”. Naturally positive, Aleš does not dwell on the negative points or the fears that his work could give him: "Life is like a river, it is moving, you have to change, adapt to constraints. ".
After 5 hours of memorable discussions, we set off to meet Aleš's goats, along with his ten dogs who accompany him everywhere (when they are not protecting the herd from coyotes) and Pony, the pet pig. Why Pony? Living all the time with Aleš's equines (which are used to move the herd), the pig thinks it is a horse ...
Did you know ?
- Boškarin, kesako?
In Istria, the AZRRI organization, based in Pazin, is responsible for the protection of native species in the region. Alesh is in close contact with AZRRI as part of the protection of the Istrian goat. AZRRI also protects Boškarin, an autochtonous bovine breed from Istria, formerly used for work in the field. With agricultural mechanization, the breed was endangered. AZRRI is developing new outlets to ensure the protection of the breed, in particular through the valorization of meat. The organization offers training courses for restaurateurs in the region to learn how to cook Boškarin meat. As a result of its efforts to protect the Boškarin in Istria, AZZRI now estimates the breed to be saved, with 2,000 individuals now being reared in the region.
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