Content, pasture-fed cows and chickens
Matt looks after our beef suckler herd and our chickens (both laying hens and meat birds). We believe that diversity goes hand in hand with resilience – and hope our herd and flocks will fare well in the ever-changing climate while producing nutrient dense foods and benefiting the land.
Cows & Pasture
Our livestock journey started back in March 2022 with five Hereford cows from Stroud Community Agriculture. Now our happy herd fluctuates between 30 and 45. We have a mix of native breeds including Hereford, Sussex and Beef Shorthorn. Enjoying roughly 100 acres of pasture, our cattle have a varied diet and especially like grazing along the alleys between tree crops. The herd stays outside all year and is never fed any grain.
Regenerative Grazing
We are Pasture for Life certified. We mob-graze our herd, moving them sometimes multiple times a day. This method of grazing aims to increase the carbon content of the soil and to improve the fertility of the land which benefits the life both above and below ground. We keep our cattle out over winter and calve in June, in line with the animals’ natural rhythms. For more information about our grazing strategy see here and for the benefits of pasture-fed beef see here.
Our Pasture for Life Beef
Our Pasture for Life certified, regeneratively grazed beef is now available to buy. We believe that this product is a real superfood that will deeply nourish your bodies. Order your beef box here.
Our Poultry Practices
In April 2024 we introduced poultry to the farm with our first flock of laying hens, we now have over 500 birds producing delicious eggs. We also produce chicken meat to consume with our broiler enterprise but the birds are more than just a healthy source of food. These poultry enterprises are also beneficial additions to our land management practices; chicken manure is a rich fertiliser for the land and their pecking and scratching works wonders for breaking down the cattle manure. Our birds are raised organically and live out on pasture, rotating around the farm leaving luscious, deep-green pastures in their wake. We mob graze the chickens in a similar way to how our cattle move across the farm. They move roughly twice a week which is great for them but we also consider it from a grass management perspective. The grass gets eaten intensively for a short period and then has a very long rest period allowing it to grow lots of above and below-ground organic material feeding the biology and sustaining life.
Layers
We have a mixed flock of over 500 laying birds. Hay trailers have been converted to accommodate these girls; they have free range and fresh forage as they are moved on to new pasture on a regular basis. The layers are fed an organic feed on top of the grubs and grass that they forage in their range. Pasture reared eggs are richer in beneficial Omega 3 as well as other vitamins and minerals.
Broilers
Our organically approved, pasture-reared meat chickens are a slower growing breed that require twice the time to grow than conventional ones. Once out of the brooder (a smaller enclosed area with heat lamps keeping them warm while they are still small), at around 3 weeks of age, our birds spend the rest of their lives on pasture. They are fed with an organic chicken feed on top of the grubs and grass from the fresh ground that they are moved on to each day. Once the birds outgrow their pens, they have access to a free range where they continue to forage naturally. Their ‘one bad day’ comes at about 12 weeks of age, which is double the life of conventionally reared broilers.
If you would like to know more about how we rear our birds or to pre-order a table bird, please get in touch.
