Stories from the farm February 26

Our soak away pools looking very full.

Newsletter, written by Sabrina:

For a farmer, the weather is never simply the weather and especially for the way that we farm. Our whole system is based on hardy native animals that can thrive on rougher grounds and can better hold up in rougher conditions. The cattle and sheep tend to be outside year round. Except when they can’t. Too much snow is the obvious weather condition, but even during the long snow spell we had this January, we still kept feeding them outside. Spreading our own farm harvested sileage in long strips over the snow, ensured that all cows, both the feisty and the laid back ones, got good access to food. The spread also minimises damage to the ground. But rain is worse. The rain late January and February, soaked the ground so much so that feeding on it in strips meant losing at least one third of each sileage bale, if not more. Feeding in rings would cause too much localised damage. In addition, the land got in such a wet state that the imprints of cow hooves were seriously damaging the grass, causing serious implications for next years grass/food availability for our cattle and sheep. One of the reasons why our meat stands out so much, is because we only feed them from what we grow at our own farm, meaning our animals get to absorb all the richness of our carefully managed soils. For that system to maintain, we can’t afford to let the grass be damaged to the ground. Grass with a bit of leaf left to it, grows exponentially faster and in a system like ours, we need every bit of that headstart.

But as ever, we learn and find ways of being better prepared for what life, or the weather, throws at us. So we built a temporary coral, something like an outdoor run to the cattle shed, allowing our cattle shelter but outside space too. Going forward, we'll be looking at improving this set up further, though it will always be a set up that will be easy to set up and take down. After all, we only want our animals inside by exception, just to bridge the worst of the weather. But once the worst has passed, we’ll all be ready to go back out. People just as much as animals. And welcome the sun back. Like we did today.

UPDATED ORDER FORM ONLINE NOW

The order form is now updated and online here - with all our different meat cuts available, along with practical info about delivery/collection dates.