Category: Farms
Regenerative Agriculture
The hottest trend of 2023?
By Caroline Grindrod
Firstly, if you have been hiding under a rock and haven’t yet heard of regenerative agriculture, here’s a quick description and a great explainer video.
What is regenerative agriculture?
‘Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services. By capturing carbon in soil and biomass, regenerative agriculture aims to reverse current trends of atmospheric accumulation. At the same time, it offers increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and higher health and vitality for farming communities.’
Terra Genisis
A different paradigm
Regenerative agriculture comes from a different paradigm to conventional agriculture and is a huge step change in how we produce our food. Think about how Airbnb revolutionised the hospitality industry or Uber changed how we get around, then 10X it to get a sense of how exciting and revolutionary regenerative agriculture is for the farming industry. And boy, do we need this revolution on food and farming if we are to survive in the volatile and uncertain decades to come!
The regenerative agriculture movement has been a slow and arduous building of decades of pioneering work in the face of ridicule and resistance from those with an invested interest in the status quo.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”
originated with Mahatma Gandhi
Pioneers such as Allan Savory, Gabe Brown and the understanding AG team, Vandana Shiva, the Regrarians, the Permaculture movement and many others (including Roots of nature, 3LM, Rob Havard, Wilderculture and others here in the UK) have done the excruciatingly hard work of rolling the boulder up the very steep hill to reach the tipping point that is about to crash down on us.
Collectively these pioneers have demonstrated success with practical examples on millions of acres and scientifically collected indisputable evidence that regenerative agriculture works.
Let’s also not forget the indigenous and traditional peoples who have applied ecological thinking to their highly sustainable methods of growing food in harmony with nature for longer than anyone. The wisdom and knowledge of these people has been overlooked and marginalised in the global race to the bottom, fueled by the companies and methods of the green revolution.
Regenerative agriculture – reaching a tipping point
This is a movement whose time has come.
During the turbulent last few years filled with rapidly rising costs, disrupted supply chains, biodiversity collapse and climate derangement, regenerative agriculture seems to be the only serious contender for a more resilient and healthy future for people and the planet – unless, of course, you have been seduced by George Monbiot’s depressing dystopian future of factory formed fake food!
So regardless of whether you are a vegan, vegetarian, omnivore or carnivore or flex between, regenerative agriculture is how our food should be grown. We need to unite behind this exciting movement if we stand a chance of out-competing the vast and powerful vested interests in chemical and industrial agriculture.
So buckle up over Christmas and January and get up to speed with what we think will be the hottest trend for 2023 by watching these fantastic movies, documentaries and TV series exploring the hopeful solutions regenerative agriculture offers.
Instead of the 12 days of Christmas, we give you the 12 days of regeneration!
And here’s an idea for a new year’s resolution. What about, in addition to your noble commitment to bike to work or reduce your plastic packaging, you do something that will not just reduce your impact but actively drive change for the better?
If you are a meat eater or know someone who eats meat, then you can join our stake club. It’s free with no obligation to buy. As part of this regenerative initiative, we actively train and support farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture. We offer them a simple, no-obligation, fair way to sell their amazing nutrient-dense produce.
Join – HERE and share the opportunity with family and friends by sending them this link. We launch at the end of January.
We have also created a free course for any interested citizen who wants to know more about regenerative agriculture on our social media platform dedicated to regeneration and primal living – Primal Web. Take the course HERE!
Let’s make 2023 the year that regenerative agriculture goes mainstream. We hope you have had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a regenerative new year.
Plant-based ‘meats’
Plant-based, does it literally mean that the product contains plants or is it created in a plant?
Regenerative Agriculture – the answer(s)
By Fieke van Halder
In my role supporting Caroline with Marketing and Education, I spend many hours doing research for Root of Nature courses, Wilderculture training days, Primal Web articles and Primal Meats blogs. At the end of most of those research days, I have gathered more depressing figures on the terrible situation our planet is in and what we have done to it over the last decades.
I know it’s not just me, there is a rising awareness about the harm industrial agriculture is doing to the planet, the damage it is doing to our animals’ health and our health. The facts and figures I read around the sixth mass extinction we are currently in, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and desertification make me feel utterly desperate.
What keeps me going is that I truly believe I am supporting an answer to the crises. I believe our food systems are crippled and we need to implement a solution fast.
Regenerative agriculture is becoming more mainstream, the hordes visiting @groundswell_agriculture are a great example of that. However, with it rises the skepticism and questions. In this article we will try to explain the basics of Regenerative Agriculture, the routes that can take you there and the practices that come with it.
Regenenerative Agriculture, what?
Regenerative Agriculture (Regen Ag for short) is a growing movement under both big companies (Arla, McDonalds) and smaller farms (James Rebanks, Nikki Yoxall, Wilder Gowbarrow, FAI to just name a few).
The citizen awareness is growing as well, powered by the current climate crisis. Never before have so many of us tried to make a difference with our diet choices, may it be vegan, vegetarian, foraging or eating regenerative. Most of us choose our diets because of the same principles. We want to work on restoring our climate, preserving nature and its biodiversity and improving our health. Sadly, not all diet choices seem to have the desired effect.
Let’s explore what Regen Ag is and if it could give us the desired answers from our chosen diets.
Regenerative Agriculture has only been around since the late 1980’s. In 1983, Robert Rodale of the Rodale Institute began using the term, and led the creation of the “Regenerative Agriculture Association” sometime in the 1980s. After Robert Rodale’s unexpected death in 1990, the Rodale Institute dropped the term, focusing on promoting Organic Agriculture for more than 20 years. A couple of companies including Terra Genesis started using “Regenerative Agriculture” between 2009–2013, the Rodale Institute reclaimed the term (2014) in a modified usage that they continue today: “Regenerative Organic”. (1, 2)
For a fairly ‘new’ approach, there is a lot to still figure out. Even though many of the processes and practices of regenerative agriculture have been used for many centuries.
There are many definitions;
‘Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services.
By capturing carbon in soil and biomass, regenerative agriculture aims to reverse current trends of atmospheric accumulation. At the same time, it offers increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and higher health and vitality for farming communities.’
–Terra Genesis
‘Regenerative Agriculture describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle’
– Regeneration International
‘Regenerative agriculture describes holistic land management practices that leverage the power of photosynthesis in plants to close the carbon cycle and build soil health, which in turn leads to improved ecosystem health, crop resiliency, and nutrient density, among other benefits’
– Kiss the Ground
Regenerative Agriculture is a way of farming that works on improving our soil health, animal health and human health. With the fantastic side effect of sequestering more carbon into the soil by improving the photosynthesis of the meadows. The livestock in this process are actually the tool that make this whole operation work.
Regen Ag, compared to other practices, is the only approach that has looked at the root cause of our current wicked problems. Problem solving, you may already know, is often done by not defining the root cause. We humans like to use a ‘quick fix’ instead of working a little bit harder to make sure problems don’t repeat themselves or even get worse. Pandemic? Sell a vaccine instead of working on your nation’s health. Climate crisis? Blame the cow farts and promote processed vegan junk food, instead of repairing your food systems. Health issues? Promote medication, instead of a healthy lifestyle, movement and healthy food.
I recently moved back to the Netherlands where currently our farmers are on strike (and have been striking on and off since 2019) because of new Nitrogen laws put into place by our government. A law (max use of 170kg Nitrogen per acre per year) (4) designed with, I’m sure, the right intentions but certainly not the desired effect. As the second largest export nation of agricultural goods, these laws will mean many farmers will have to shut their family businesses because they can’t afford to abide by the new legislation put into place. Vandana Shiva can put it into words much better than I can;
In modern society, we are very comfortable operating within a mechanistic (3) paradigm but often need to work on our capacity to work with the complexity of nature – this is at the heart of why we have destroyed the very ecosystems that sustain our lives.
One of the most exciting outcomes of regenerative agriculture is that it restores the very ecological functions that cooled our climate millions of years ago and created the conditions that allowed humans to emerge. We can leverage these ecological principles and processes once again to achieve carbon net-zero and beyond.
Depending on how you have ‘arrived’ at regenerative agriculture will influence how you describe it. Any definition of regenerative agriculture must evolve over time, like the whole living systems that we aim to regenerate.
Routes to Regen Ag
There are multiple ways you may discover and farmers may adopt regenerative agriculture, and the possible routes will expand as more training offerings are developed.
Below, Ethan Soloviev, a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement, describes the five most common ‘lineages’;
- Rodale Organic: The focus is soil. “Regeneration” is a combination of 40-year-tested conservation farming practices — cover cropping, crop rotation, compost, low- or no-till.
- Permaculture/Regrarians: A strong focus on small-scale design and unproven beliefs about reversing climate change, this lineage of Regenerative Agriculture tends towards ideals from the human potential movement, focusing on how to create “thriving” and “abundance” for all.
- Holistic Management: Promoted by both the Savory Institute and Holistic Management International, focusing on a comprehensive decision-making framework designed for animal-centric ecosystem regeneration.
- Regenerative Paradigm; Guided by the Carol Sanford Institute, a small but effective community of praxis including Regenesis, Terra Genesis International, Regen Network and others has applied the paradigm to Business, Design, Planning, Education, and Agriculture.
- Soil profits/no-till/NRCS: Typified and led by Ray Archuleta, Gabe Brown, and others, this lineage draws practices and inspiration from other Lineages but appeals strongly to conventional farmers by eschewing the dogmas of organic agriculture and focusing on bottom line profits through increased soil health.
Knowing from what ‘lineage’ an organisation is communicating helps to understand their language and possibly even further develop their work.
Features of Regen Ag
Soloviev describes; ‘More and more organizations, individuals, and businesses will start to claim that what they are doing is “regenerative” without changing how they are thinking or even what they are doing.’ What is fundamental to Regenerative Agriculture is that it requires a different way of thinking, a mind shift if you will. Which is exactly why a certification is not the answer for Regen Ag. As soon as we start using certifications, we risk turning Regen Ag into a box ticking exercise and miss out on understanding the root cause of the change that is needed for each individual farm.
You can be fluent in the practices and science behind regenerative agriculture. Still, until you change the way you think and adopt a wider, more holistic perspective when making decisions, then you will never be able to manage in a truly regenerative way long into the future.
Instead, we define the following 4 features;
- Principles not practises:
Regenerative agriculture is based on ecological principles.
Practitioners learn ecological principles. With support, each farmer must take these principles and work out what tools and practices are appropriate for their unique context.
Some farmers may come into the movement from an interest in soil health or grassland productivity practices and follow a prescriptive plan. This may yield some regenerative outcomes, but if the principles and thinking behind the practices are not fully understood, results can be frustrating and limited. - Holistic paradigm:
To fully understand and adopt regenerative agriculture, you must see the world as a living system of which you are part.
In regenerative agriculture, decisions are made ‘holistically’ considering the social, ecological and economic impact of the choice, both short and long term. - Outcomes not standards:
The only way to measure success in regenerative agriculture is to measure the outcomes. You don’t know if your practices are regenerative until you can see they have improved the ecosystem processes.
Ethan Soloviev (mentioned above) proposes; ‘that there is no such thing as a “Regenerative Agriculture Practice” — only systemic outcomes can confirm that regeneration is taking place.
Savory’s ‘Ecological Outcome Verification’ is a great way to prove that a product has been grown from a farm that is regenerating its ecosystems. It measures the improvements in ecosystem processes which allows management to be unique and ever-changing within each farm context. - Unique to its place and people:
Because regenerative agriculture is based on principles practised by individuals and communities in their unique environmental and cultural context, it will look completely different from place to place.
Regenerative agriculture should emerge from learning the principles and trying different practices to see which get the best regenerative outcomes for your unique situation. The farmers’ approach will evolve and adapt to their family’s changing needs over the generations and changes in climate and economic pressures, etc.
Just as an ecosystem has niches, regenerative agriculture will have advisors, trainers and coaches who occupy their niche within the ecosystem, each bringing a different perspective and range of expertise.
Conclusion
There is great potential in Regenerative Agriculture, and we are not anywhere close to achieving it. I think streamlining the definition, principles and practises of Regen Ag could help clarify the movement. What we can do in the meantime is work on educating folk on the need for change and the tools at our disposal.
Still unclear? Listen to this excellent podcast by FarmGate:
https://podbay.fm/p/farm-gate/e/1615828071
References;
- Regenerative Agriculture Industry Map | by Ethan Soloviev | Medium
- Lineages of Regenerative Agriculture (Short Version) | by Ethan Soloviev | Medium
- https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/mechanistic
- Frontiers | What Is Regenerative Agriculture? A Review of Scholar and Practitioner Definitions Based on Processes and Outcomes (frontiersin.org)
- Veranderingen mestbeleid 2022 (rvo.nl)
Grass-fed: Are our expectations always met?
Many of us have found inspiration in various Paleo and primal books from across the pond. They highlight the benefits of eating grass-fed meat over mass-produced grain-fed beef. In the UK, we don’t tend to see huge concentrated animal feed operations, but does this mean all our UK beef and lamb is 100% grass-fed? We’re going to talk you through the expectations of ‘grass-fed meat’ and what some supermarkets and farmers mean when they say ‘grass-fed’.
The taste and quality difference
The taste and quality difference between grass-fed and grain-fed meats could be endlessly debated. We tend to choose grass-fed meats for their health-boosting qualities, but how do they boost our health? They hold higher nutrient quality, higher omega-3 content, and healthier omega-3 to omega-6 ratios.
Studies show that grass finished meats can have 3-5 times as many omega-3 fatty acids as grain-fed meats, depending on various factors like the quality of the grazing pasture. Omega-3 has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, depression, dementia and arthritis.
100% grass-fed meat, therefore, has a much higher quality of nutrients, taste and even a better impact on the environment.
The problem with modern diets
Omega-6 is a fatty acid that is contained within both grain-fed and grass-fed meat in relatively similar quantities. In most modern diets, omega-6 is often eaten excessively. In healthy traditional cultures the ratio between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids would be 1:1 or 1:2, this ratio has been shown to have a health promoting effect on humans. (1)
Modern diets are high in vegetable oils, grains, and processed foods. These diets tend to create an omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio of up to 1:20. This is a serious problem, eating too many omega-6 fatty acids can reduce the benefits of omega-3. This occurs because the omegas compete for the enzymes and micronutrients in our bodies. This could mean that even though you are eating omega-3, your body may not be making use of it.
A key issue we face with modern diets is the imbalance between our intake of omega-3 and omega-6. By choosing 100% grass-fed meat over grain-fed or even grain-finished meats gives you the chance to increase your omega-3 consumption and balance out your overall intake to a healthier ratio of 1:2.
The Benefits of 100% Grass-fed meats
You can gain the most nutrients from animals who have been on an entirely pasture diet (grass and other plant species found in grasslands). When animals are reared for meat and have eaten a 100% grass-fed diet the concentration of the beneficial nutrients within the flesh of the animal are far higher. One of the fatty acids that is particularly desirable within the meat of grass finished animals is Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA). CLA is a type of polyunsaturated fat and is found at levels 2-3 times higher in grass-fed meat than in grain-fed meat. CLA is thought to help protect against heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. (2, 3)
What animals can be ‘100% grass fed’?
The term grass-fed is only applicable to ruminant animals that would naturally have a pasture-based diet. Omnivores, like pigs, will eat grass and scratch around in pasture but it is unlikely they will be finished on just grass for the commercial market.
In the UK, we don’t see huge concentrated animal feeding operations like those in the USA, however most farms will use grains in one form or another to ‘finish’ their cattle, lambs and mutton ewes.
So, how do we identify ‘pasture for life’ and ‘100% grass-fed’ meats?
Meat from 100% grass-fed animals will contain carotenoids such as beta-carotene – these are the precursors to vitamin A. A good way to identify nutritious beef and lamb is to look at the fat on the meat; if it slightly yellow and cream coloured it means it is rich in carotenoids which are a good indication that the animal has had a grass finished diet (4).
Vitamin E is also crucial when analysing the quality and freshness of meat; it can help extend shelf life. Grass-fed meat, that is higher in vitamin E, will perform better in high temperature cooking over grain-fed meat. This means it is even more important to select grass-fed meat when selecting steak and burger cuts (5).
The UK is home to a wide diversity of livestock farms who have a range of rearing systems. To presume all UK meat is grass-fed would be misleading. What is important to know is that there are no specific labelling laws governing the term ‘grass-fed’; this means the term is used to cover a variety of animal rearing systems. ‘Grass-fed’ could cover animals who have had a short time on pasture and are then cereal fed until slaughter, it could also cover those animals who have been grazed naturally their whole lives. This means even if meat is labelled ‘grass-fed’ it doesn’t mean they haven’t had any grains.
There are a limited number of farmers, in the UK, finishing their animals exclusively on grass and nutrient dense pasture crops, like red clover and lucerne. There is only one recognised certification program for ‘100% grass-fed’ or ‘pasture-fed’ meat; the Pasture Fed Livestock Association are working hard to get more farmers to sell their meat under the PFLA certificate. The chances are if your meat is not certified by the PFLA then your farmer will probably be finishing their ‘local grass-fed meat’ on grains.
Don’t get caught out:
It’s important to know the crucial time for animals to be grass-fed is in the 80-90 days prior to slaughter, this falls within most UK livestock’s ‘finishing’ period. This is when farmers are fattening the animals to get a decent conformation of carcass and a good price. Most UK farms feed cereals in this period and many will bring the animals indoors to do this efficiently (6).
An Australian study into the ‘Effect of feeding systems on omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid and trans fatty acids in Australian beef cuts: potential impact on human health’ (Ponnampalam, E.N., 2006), showed that all the omega-3 and CLA gained from grass-feeding was lost in just 80 days of grain feeding. Furthermore, it was lost to the degree that it was no longer qualified as being a meaningful dietary source by the New Zealand and Australian Food Standards Agency.
This doesn’t mean these farmers or supermarkets labelling this meat as ‘grass-fed’ are bad or that their produce is poor in quality or taste. Although, it does not guarantee that the nutrient density is what we expect from ‘100% grass-fed’ meat.
Overall…
The term ‘grass-fed’ is meaningless unless you research further into the animals’ background. Unfortunately, the extensive use of the term ‘grass-fed’ has undermined the effort of those small local farms who are actively trying to produce 100% grass-fed meat. Rearing animals purely on pasture is a very sustainable way to produce meat but it does take a deep understanding of organic farming, eco-systems, and holistic animal health management. This knowledge and skill set take time to learn and emplace.
If you want to be certain of the nutrient quality of your meat then you should be looking for the ‘pasture for life’ certificate on your meat, or ask the following questions:
• Are the animals grazed outside on pasture?
• Do the animals receive any grains?
• What feed is used to ‘finish’ the livestock?
The answer to these questions should give you some insight into where, on the wide scale of nutrient quality, your ‘grass-fed meat’ may fall.
References
1: Dewailly E, Blanchet C, Lemieux S, et al.(2001). n−3 fatty acids and cardiovascular disease risk factors among the Inuit of Nunavik. In Am J Clinical Nutrition 2001;74::464-73. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/4/464.full
2: Gunnars, K. (n.d.). Top 8 Reasons Not to Fear Saturated Fats. In Authority Nutrition. Retrieved from http://authoritynutrition.com/top-8-reasons-not-to-fear-saturated-fats/
3: Kresser, C. (2013, April). The Diet-Heart Myth: Cholesterol and Saturated Fat Are Not the Enemy. In Chris Kresser. Retrieved from http://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy/
4: Kresser, C. (2013, March). Why Grass-Fed Trumps Grain-Fed. In Chris Kresser. Retrieved from http://chriskresser.com/why-grass-fed-trumps-grain-fed/
5: Daley, C. A., Abbott, A., Doyle, P. S., Nader, G. A., & Larson, S. (2010). A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef. In Nutrition Journal, 9, 10. doi:10.1186/1475-2891-9-10. Retrieved from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2846864/
6: Ponnampalam E.N., Mann, N.J., Sinclair, A.J. (2006). Effect of feeding systems on omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid and trans fatty acids in Australian beef cuts: potential impact on human health. In Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2006;15(1):21-9. Retrieved from http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/15/1/21.pdf
Introducing Model Farm
We work with this inspiring Family be able to offer you some of the best beef available in the UK through our ‘cow share’ way of purchasing. Read why it is so important to support farmers like these.
Model Farm
Simon Cutter Farms on the wonderful rich pastures and meadows of Model farm, near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire.
Simon Cutter is the founder of Model Farm Society. Educated at Cirencester Agricultural College between 1977-1980, he has studied and practised traditional farming for over 30 years including time spent farming in Australia. Simon has been a pioneer in the rearing of Organic livestock and produce long before the ‘Organic bandwagon’ started to roll in the wake of the BSE crisis in the early 1990′s
Model Farm is home to a herd of 270 Hereford Beef Cattle and 400 Easy care ewes on sustainably managed grassland and forage crops. Simon’s cattle and sheep are 100% pasture fed and receive NO grains. Model Farm is managed to soil association standards for Organic status, the land receives no in-organic fertilisers or sprays and a forage crop rotation system produces natural organic foods for any winter feeds required.
‘Easy Care’ is a breed of sheep ideally suited to this topography and organic management system. They require minimal management and even shed their own fleece, so don’t require shearing. The torpedo shaped head of the lambs allows for easy lambing and Simon’s careful selective breeding program has led to the health of the flock to be nothing less than exceptional in the absence of routine medical intervention. The sheep require a small amount of supplementary feed in winter and this is provided by way of a home grown red clover hay.
Of the 270 Cattle, 100 hundred are breeding cows, the health of the herd is outstanding and the vet visiting is a very rare occurrence. There is NO routine medicines used and Simon maintains, that with extensive healthy grassland and soils, the cows and sheep receive all the nutrients they need to stay healthy from the diverse range of plants they eat.
The Hereford breeding stock stay outdoors on pasture, all year round. Hereford Cattle are a hardy traditional British breed originating in this area so are ideally suited to its climate and terrain. The young stock usually come in for the wettest parts of the year to avoid poaching the delicate grassland. Indoors the young stock will be bedded on local straw and fed Lucerne silage. Lucerne is a green, nutrient dense plant that grows very deep roots, it can access reservoirs of minerals not normally available to normal grasses and is considered a ‘superfood’.
The Beef is outstanding, due to the diet of the cattle consisting ONLY of natural herb rich plant matter and organic home grown super foods. The animals are getting all the minerals and vitamins they need and these will naturally pass on a range of these beneficial nutrients to you. The beef is dry aged for a minimum of 21 days.
Simon is ‘pasture for life‘ certified.
Simon handles all the transportation to a local abattoir and the meat will be cut by Simon’s butcher on the Model farm in a new purpose build unit.
Introducing Hill Top Farm, Malham
We work with this inspiring couple to be able to offer you some of the best beef available in the UK through our ‘cow share’ way of purchasing. Read why it is so important to support farmers like these.
Hill Top Farm
Neil Heseltine with Partner Leigh Weston farm the very beautiful ‘Hill Top Farm’ at Malham in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Neil and Leigh are passionate about producing 100% pasture fed beef from their 100 strong herd of Belted Galloway Cattle.
The Cattle are grazed all year round on limestone pastures and are never housed. In the most extreme of winters if the cattle need extra sustenance they are fed home grown hay or silage.
This is no hardship for these animals, Belted Galloway Cattle are renowned for their hardy and agile nature and are well equipped for the wind and cold they will experience on the higher Moors of this extensive Farm. Originating in South West Scotland the breed is very distinctive due to its ‘belt’ of white on a black, dun or red body.
Belted Galloway Cattle are incredibly efficient at converting rough grassland into very fine quality beef.
The beef these animal produce is exceptional, due to their diet consisting ONLY of natural herb rich plant matter. The animals get all the minerals and vitamins they need for supreme health in their diet and therefore need no medical intervention. No anti biotic residues here! The meat they produce will naturally pass on a range of these beneficial nutrients to you, and is arguably among the most nutritious meat you can buy.
“All our cattle are finished on grass or occasionally hay, they do not get fed grains at all,” LEIGH
This breed of cattle are at their best and most content when allowed to express their natural instincts. If managed in harmony with their nature you will see them wandering as a herd over the large open areas, occasionally wallowing in the watering areas. The ‘in-calf’ Cows will sneak off to calve and keep the newly born calf hidden for a few days until it is strong enough to be with the herd.
Limestone pasture is a delicate habitat that has been damaged by increased sheep grazing over the last few decades. Sheep graze only the most palatable grasses, and in many areas this has resulted in the rare and important species becoming choked by rank grasses. Hardy native cattle are ideal for restoring the diverse range of flora, their grazing action is less selective so reduces the long grasses. The grazing and trampling action opens up pockets of soil allowing important native species to successfully re-seed. Neil and Leigh farm the Belted Galloway cattle as part of a conservation scheme to regenerate these delicate and important habitats.
The couple Farm within a very High Tier of Higher Level Scheme which encourages farmers to manage land for the benefit of the environment.
“IT RESTRICTS YOU IN TERMS OF WHAT NUMBERS YOU CAN GRAZE, THE TIMINGS OF GRAZING AND WHAT YOU CAN FEED THE ANIMALS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, BUT I DON’T SEE ANY OF IT AS A HINDRANCE. I DO IT BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN IT.
“I BELIEVE THIS IS HOW AGRICULTURE SHOULD BE. THE KEY FOR ME IS IT SHOULD BE SUSTAINABLE, ENVIRONMENTALLY AND FINANCIALLY- NEIL.
The couple are so passionate about sustainable Farming that they do not ‘finish’ the Cattle, they simply allow them to continue grazing year after year until they reach the correct conformation for slaughter. This is often more than double the duration of a commercial grain fed beef animal.
Neil and Leigh want to see their good work continued to the very end, by working through us, to reach out to ‘conscious consumers’ they can make sure the nutritious ethical meat they have spent several years bringing to your table will be FULLY appreciated.