Frank stierhof has been working on his parents' farm in the iphof suburb of dornheim for as long as he can remember. He likes to tell how, as an eight-year-old boy, he asked his parents for a horse at easter and got a small herd of goats instead. "These were my first own animals, reports stierhof, who was born in 1981 and works full-time as an industrial mechanic at bosch-rexroth in volkach, germany.
Despite his work, he tries to support his parents irma and walter stierhof as often as possible in caring for and feeding the almost 100 animals, including cows, donkeys, chickens and pigs. In the next year the 25th anniversary of the stierhof as an adventure farm is approaching. Stierhof takes school classes around the countryside and tries to introduce the children to agriculture and nature.
Even though stierhof has to take care of the animals during the christmas holidays, this time is special for him and his family already. So comes the 25. December the whole family comes together to celebrate christmas together. The animals also benefit from this festive mood, as they are "gifted" with cuddles and extra food, especially by the female members of the family and extra food.
Stierhof hopes to keep the farm as a farm and as an adventure farm because he enjoys working with the animals and interacting with the children.