The home of Babylonstoren’s water buffalo and free-roaming chickens.

A single, downy feather placed delicately inside a carton of farm-fresh eggs. A beautiful ball of pearly white mozzarella, perfectly shaped. It’s these little details that set Babylonstoren’s products apart – a human touch that begins in the kraal and ends in a nourishing family moment.  

Rietvlei is where we farm water buffalo and chickens for Babylonstoren. Water buffalo produce the rich, pearly white milk we use in our Milk Room to create Italian-style water buffalo mozzarella and our creamy water buffalo gelato, while the free-roaming hens produce our colourful bounty of chicken eggs. Rietvlei is integral to Babylonstoren’s farm-to-table approach to farming and food. 

When it comes to producing these unique products, farm manager Kobus Lambrechts believes quality trumps quantity. Here, animals are treated with respect and the utmost care. “At an out-of-the-box farm like Rietvlei, we need out-of-the-box people to care for these special animals.”  

Rietvlei’s Chickens

Rietvlei’s brood of about 2400 hens includes three main varieties, namely Lohmann Brown, Hy-Line Silver Brown and Araucana, which produce their distinct blue and even green eggs. 

Our chickens roam freely during the day, scratching at leisure for worms and small insects and enjoying the open air. At night, they take shelter on their perches. The hens are early risers (no surprises there), usually waking around six o’clock before they are served fresh food and water for breakfast at seven. Around mid-morning, the day’s bounty of eggs is collected. “Each hen produces on average a single egg per day,” Kobus explains. “By keeping our hens relaxed and well cared for, with no pressure to perform, we ensure they have the ideal conditions for producing quality eggs. This also means they live longer, happier lives.” 

Once the eggs have been collected, they make their way to the egg store, where each one is carefully washed by hand and is quality controlled before being packed into cartons. “Each egg that leaves Rietvlei has passed through someone’s hands,” says Kobus. 

The Water Buffalo Whisperer

When the first water buffalo cows arrived at Rietvlei almost seven years ago, it was Leonie Botha, alongside her late husband Christo, who was there to settle them in.

Very early on in rearing water buffalo, Leonie realised that a special touch was needed to care for the calves in particular. “I noticed the men often didn’t have the required patience to work with the calves, so I stepped in to help,” she explains. Calves are bottle-fed daily, which is no mean feat. “Each calf has its own personality – its own aura almost. You need a certain awareness and be attuned to each one – which one needs a little coaxing to take the bottle, which one responds well to a specific technique. They love human interaction and are naturally very curious. You need to give them plenty of love and attention.” Leonie still raises each calf at Rietvlei by hand, ensuring they grow up comfortably and cooperate once they become mature enough for milking. 

At Rietvlei, we believe our animals should be treated with kindness and respect. The better you treat the water buffalo, the stronger and better producing they grow to be, Leonie says. She has now trained two more women to help her in the daily caretaking of the calves, imprinting the principles of ethical farming on a new generation. “The interaction between humans and these animals is something truly special,” she says. 

The Kraal-to-table experience 

Apart from working with the water buffalo on a daily basis, one of the things Leonie enjoys most about working at Rietvlei is seeing how visitors make the connection between what the animals produce and what eventually ends up on their plates.  

Babylonstoren offers daily guided tours to Rietvlei for hotel guests. During these tours, you not only get to learn fascinating facts about water buffalo in general (did you know they can hold their breath for over five minutes?!), but also get to meet some of the herd, each one with a unique name, and learn more about the milking process. 

“I love sharing with visitors the story of where the mozzarella that Alta Eybers, our cheesemaker, so beautifully crafts in our Cheese Room or the delicious gelato in our Gelato Room comes from,” Leonie says. “What ends up on your plate is the result of years of work and care. It helps create a mindfulness of where your food comes from.”