How we manage our cattle.

The simple answer to how we manage our cattle is that we do as little as possible to create the maximum benefits to land and soil. What we mean by this is that our decisions are nature-led not prescribed by a certain methodology, we respond to what we observe and feel. 

We have chosen Lincoln Red cattle as they’re indigenous to the land they’re on and the specific ecoregion we’re farming, they are also very calm, very hardy and produce superb meat. 

When we inherited the land we removed all fences including the fences within the hedgerows meaning we’re free to move the cattle without constraint or boundary as will best benefit the land and its regeneration.

For millions of years before farming cattle would be in constant motion having a symbiotic beneficial effect on the pasture that supports them, as there are no fields in nature we have removed this concept from our farm. We manage the movement of the cattle using a method called ‘mob grazing’, which means they move onto new pasture when they have had the necessary impact on the land, this is done by look, feel and experience but can vary from a day to several days after which the land rests for a period of months and is fully regrown and recovered before seeing the cattle again.

There are no barns in nature. For this reason, we have chosen a breed suited to living outside year-round, in the winter we supplement their diet with hay collected in the bountiful months of summer. Our hay is harvested after the grasses and other plants have gone to seed, this break from convention ensures that in the spring a huge variety of seeds can take hold in the pasture and ever increase the complexity.

Complex pasture makes not only very healthy cattle but makes for a more complex tasting and nutritious food for us when we ultimately eat their meat. The increasing variety of plant life on the land directly correlates to a better quality product for us.