Our farming system
Our grazing cattle are the engine room of our land regeneration. We mob-graze our cattle to mimic the ancient co-evolution of grazing animals, soils and grass. This enables us to benefit from high animal impact - fertilising the soil and trampling vegetation – followed by long rest periods. This animal impact fosters health in the below ground environment producing more biological activity, higher water holding capacity, more diversity in the vegetation and more diversity in the insect life. All of this is intricately interconnected and feeds through directly to the quality and nutrient density of the food we produce.
Following the grazing cattle is our flock of egg-laying chickens which are housed in the eggmobile. The chickens follow the cattle around the farm, scratching though the manure – aiding its incorporation into the soil – whilst consuming predatory fly larvae to reduce insect burdens on the cattle.
Our Tamworth sows also mimic the mob grazing effects of the cattle to move across herbal pastures grazing a diverse range of grasses, herbs and legumes. By developing systems to increase the forage component of our pigs’ diets we are able to reduce our reliance on bought in feeds and compounds. Our pig rations are soya free and we’re building relationships to grow and source our feed from our network of local farms.
Cycling nutrients from our livestock enterprises we’ve developed a no-dig market garden to produce highly nutritious vegetable crops utilising our home-produced nutrients and fertility.