Behind the scenes at the Tierhalle

Johanna Geibel is studying equine science. The internship in the Grüne Woche project team is her first office job. “I usually work on the horse or in the stable,” she says. Tools such as Outlook and Teams were as foreign to her at the start of her internship as stable work and animal husbandry are to many city dwellers.

“It really does happen that people ask whether the cow is purple and whether cocoa comes from brown cows,” says Johanna Geibel. This is why the animal hall is an important meeting point for breeders and farmers. They want to show the background, educate people and dispel prejudices. “We put our heart and soul into bringing this hall and our daily work closer to people,” says Martin Seidl from Rinderfreunde Deutschland. He took part for the first time as a 17-year-old and is celebrating his 35th Grüne Woche participation this year.

He would have liked to bring twelve of his cattle with him, but they had to stay at home due to the foot-and-mouth epidemic. Instead, plastic cows from Fulda and Lower Saxony demonstrate the size of the stalls. A screen streams live from the Hemme Milch cowshed in Angermünde and children can race through the straw on pedal tractors in an empty stall. “That goes down really well. We want to make the hall even more interactive in the future,” says Martin Seidl.

The stalls have been expanded year after year

The heart of the animal hall is the riding ring. Six to seven large truckloads of sand were brought in, compacted and rolled to create perfect conditions for the animals. Both for the Hippologica horse show, which will be held in Hall 25 from January 24 to 26, and for the animal show program, where breeders will present their animals. Ole Peter from Landwirtschaftsbetrieb Gransee will also be presenting his Rhenish German cold-blooded horses in the animal show program. The breed is threatened with extinction and is on the Red List of endangered native livestock breeds in Germany. “We want to present the animals to visitors so that they don't fall into oblivion,” says Ole Peter. The breeder has brought six mares with him to perform twice a day in the show program. Mare Annika von Gransee is taking part for the ninth year.

“We always feed and muck out before and after visiting times. We clean the horses twice a day and regularly check that they are doing well,” says Ole Peter. You can recognize excitement in the animals, for example, if their bellies are tense or their feet are sensitive, he explains. If the horse's ears are half drooping and the songs are half closed, this does not mean that the horse is unwell. On the contrary: “The animals are then relaxed. They sleep,” explains Johanna Geibel.

The boxes for the cold-blooded horses are twelve square meters in size. The boxes for horses, donkeys and cattle have been expanded year after year. “We make sure that the animals can withdraw and that fair visitors can only touch them if the horses want to. They then come forward to the gate of their own accord,” says Johanna Geibel. Not all of the animals are in Hall 25; in Hall 26, which is not accessible to the public, over 100 horse boxes have been installed. This is where the animals that arrive for the national shows and the Hippologica are kept.

“The stable staff and the trade fair really help us a lot,” says Ole Peters. A vet is on site around the clock. Every morning and evening, the lights are switched on to simulate twilight for over two hours in order to imitate the animals' usual daily routine. “We have a very special cohesion here in Hall 25. We all come alone at the beginning and leave as a family after Grüne Woche,” says Ole Peter.

In order to show more of this, Johanna Geibel hopes to offer regular behind-the-scenes tours of the animal hall for trade fair visitors in future. The test run with the Messe Berlin team on Tuesday morning was the pilot project and a complete success.