Azienda Agricola Orlandini Alessandro e C. Soc. Ag.S.
“My story, which started in 1989, was a real challenge. I was a boy of just 15 years, studying agriculture and I started with 1 dairy cow, then 2, then 4; I wanted to put what I was studying into practice. All the old farmers in the area wrote me off, because they were not used to seeing a young boy tackling the hard life of a farmer”.
But Alessandro Orlandini overcame this challenge: he now runs his farm at “Casale Tugurio” in Barcaccia (Reggio Emilia) and has 650 Friesian cows from Italian stock, including 320 milking cows and 220 hectares of land cultivated for alfalfa, permanent pastures and cut wheat. Together with his wife Beatrice and several employees, every day he produces about 9,000 litres of milk for making Parmigiano Reggiano.
His farm stands out due to two important factors: the first one involves the quantity of milk produced compared with its quality, which is why, for 15 years, it has firmly been one of the top 10 farms in Reggio Emilia in terms of kg/protein, an indicator of the high quality of the milk produced. The Azienda Agricola Orlandini Alessandro is also the 7th farm in Italy for the old age of their cows, which proves their love and constant commitment for the well-being of their animals. In order to look after their cows as best as possible during difficult times and illnesses, an infirmary was set up at the farm; on average, 7 out of every 10 cows manage to return to the farm completely cured from the infirmary.
At the Emilia Romagna regional show in 2008, Alessandro and Beatrice received one of their greatest achievements, when the farm actually won the “Best dairy farm for the production of Parmigiano Reggiano in Emilia Romagna”. This landmark achievement was reached thanks to a long journey of investments and continuous improvements, but above all, it was the result of their great passion for this job.
