 ON
THE FARM
 Farm Background
Abbey Home Farm is 635 ha of “Cotswold Brash”, of which the total farmed
area is 569 ha. The farm produces organic milk, cereals, lamb, beef, pork,
bacon, eggs, soft fruit and vegetables. The farm hosts regular educational
visits and farm walks, and is a member of the Elm Farm Research Centre
organic demonstration network and a Soil Association demonstration farm.
There is also on farm camping and an annual summer camp with monies raised
being donated to local charities. The farm is registered with the Soil
Association under symbol number G1715 and was awarded the Soil Association
Producer of the Year in 1999.
Farming Practices
The organic farming practices we use are a combination of livestock, arable
and fertility building enterprises. White and red clover, lucerne, vetches
and mustard are used to build fertility, whilst wheat, oats, barley, triticale
and beans are grown for sale and for own livestock feed use. Rotation
is a vital part of the farm’s management with different rotations used
dependent on distance from the main farm building for livestock access,
soil type and level of fertility building required. All manure is composted
and used on farm and is targeted at the grassland particularly the forage
production area. A mixture of shallow and deep rooting crops and leys
are grown to aid soil structure and try to reduce the droughting effect
of thin stony soil.
All stock is checked at least daily. Both sheep and cattle are fed on
forage based systems with the accent on grazed grass. The cattle are all
loose housed in the winter in well ventilated straw yards. The milking
cows are kept in 2 groups of approximately 45 -50 per group and all cattle
of all age groups have at least 10 square metres per animal. The yards
are bedded down daily and feeding/standing areas cleaned daily. Calving
takes place outside where possible and most calves are reared on cows.
All calves stay with their mothers for 3-4 days from birth and all calves
are fed whole milk until at least12 weeks old. The sheep are in two flocks,
one lambed indoors in February and one outdoors in May. Both flocks are
managed to allow a ewe and her lambs to remain on her chosen lambing site
for at least 24 hrs. Lambs are not weaned until 16 weeks old. The pigs
are kept outdoors with free access to grazing and wallows. The chickens
are kept free range. We use a clean grazing system for all the livestock
on the farm with all the different species being rotated around the farm.
Time is allowed and encouraged for observing stock, and there is a high
level of attention paid to the cleanliness and maintenance of the housing
environment and handling systems for the livestock.
The farm is implementing a full farm conservation plan drawn up by F.W.A.G.
We have a S.S.S.I. of unimproved Jurassic limestone grassland, we have
created beetle banks and strips, all fields have a 2 metre margin whilst
in arable and we have completed 1,250 metres of hedgerow planting since
1998. We also have a dirty water system installed in 1995 to use dirty
water from the dairy and associated yards on the land via low volume irrigation.
We have been accepted for Countryside Stewardship and this will involve
the creation of 5.5 km of permanent field margins, wall and hedgerow renovation
and public access through guided walks and the creation of a 3.5km permissive
public footpath.
Our product
All farm produce sold off farm is sold under the organic symbol scheme
and is therefore produced to at least Soil Association standards. We have
also had and passed separate inspections from processors and supermarkets
as end users of our produce.
we implement regular checks on milking and refrigeration plant. We pay
attention to the way in which animals are handled when selecting fatstock
for slaughter and our policy for the selection of breeds and sires maintains
beef and lamb quality. The grainstore is cleaned scrupulously before,
during and after harvest. We have on-going pest control measures undertaken
by a local contractor and all light fittings etc. are laminated to avoid
any possible contamination to grain in store.
Our milk is marketed through our own farm shop. It is unhomogenised.
Lamb and beef is marketed through the Organic Livestock Marketing Co-op
to both wholesale and retail markets. Cereals are sold wholesale to supply
milling and feed markets nationwide. All produce sold consistently achieves
at least minimum requirements and comments have been passed on the high
quality of our meat.
Our role in the wider community
The Organic Farm Shop opened in June 1999 to enable us to sell farm produce
directly to the public. It incorporates a cafe to allow people to take
time to see some of the farming activities and enjoy the woodland surrounding
the shop premises. There is also a woodland trail nearby. We have opened
an educational trail on the farm which will enable us to strengthen our
links with schools in the county. We made contact with an Education Business
Partnership in Cheltenham in 1998 and we have followed this up by contacting
237 local primary schools for educational visits and have already had
many of these to visit for guided farm walks and talks, providing opportunities
to study various aspects of the National Curriculum. We also target local
policy makers to visit the farm to explain what organic farming is about.
Through the demonstration network we have had visits from interested and
sceptical parties and we have hosted several seminars for farmers and
others from both conventional and organic backgrounds. We also take every
opportunity to promote organic farming in the media, with articles in
many magazines and on local radio and a flying visit from the Minister
of Agriculture.
A 3.5 km permissive footpath opened in October 1999 with the route following
a woodland trail and field margins.
Our aim is to farm sustainably and accountably to benefit the local community
and to enhance the understanding of organic food production and the countryside.
Farm
Tours
These
one to one and a half hour rides in a covered trailer are
primarily to give our customers a free opportunity to see the
larger picture of how we farm, and to ask questions about our
farming techniques and ongoing conservation programme. They
are suitable for adults and/or accompanied children alike.
The trailor is covered, but it is advisable to bring warm and wet
weather clothing. Please do book in advance as space is
limited.
Farm
news - March 2006
As
usual looking back from the darkness of short winter days to the year
just passed, brings back pleasant memories of long hot summer days, hay
making and harvest, and a dry autumn to establish our crops. We produced
our highest wheat yield of 7 tonnes per hectare last year and in general
harvest went well. As is often the case higher yields are at the expense
of quality and most of our wheat has gone into the animal feed market,
with a small quantity going for flaking and for biscuit making. A few
of the field bean yields were a little disappointing but we had fine weather
and so were able to avoid drying a lot of the crops.
The
good late summer weather allowed us to plant a large area of forage rape,
mustard and turnip mix as a green manure to utilize nitrogen in the soil
and to provide a grazing area for the sheep over the winter. This is a
good example of how organic agriculture requires a systems approach, and
how different enterprises can work together providing overall benefits
for the farm. Autumn planting generally went well. The cereal crops have
all established and look good, and the last fields of winter field beans,
planted in mid November, are just showing through.
The
pigs add their part to the farm’s rotation by adding fertility to the
soil and helping with dock control to some extent by digging up the roots
and leaving them on the surface where they dry out. Our best spring wheat
yields to date have been following the pigs and the next crop again also
seems to benefit from that boost in fertility.
The
forage legumes, key to producing soil fertility, are particularly well
utilized by the cattle. We are able to produce meat and milk from these
forage crops whilst the clover is “fixing” nitrogen in the soil, and most
importantly the cattle produce an excellent source of manure, which we
turn into “compost”, to return organic matter and more nutrients to the
soil. The improvements we have made in soil structure and quality, and
continued progress in overall production, certainly shows that our organic
system is sustainable (John).
Farm
news - June 2005
As I have said before farming is by its very nature seasonal and to a
large extent repetitive. Each year there are the same sorts of operations
to be done on the land, and although the final timing is hugely influenced
by the weather, the seasons dictate the timing of planting and harvest
and when the animals are outside grazing or inside eating their diets
of conserved forage. When the animals are outside life is relatively easy
for both them and us as they are able to feed themselves from their pasture,
but when they are housed the workload is very different. This is an insight
into some of the routine work involved on the farm.
A typical housed dairy cow's day would start with milking at around 6.00am.
Towards the end of milking (at about 7.15am), the cows are moved out of
their barns and the overnight accumulated muck from the feed standings
and surrounding areas is scraped up into a weekly store. Their yards are
bedded up with fresh straw blown in by a machine. The cows then return
to their barns. Any of yesterday's feed left in their feed troughs is
cleaned away and then enough feed for their diet for that day (around
50kgs of fresh weight) is mixed up and fed out. This is done by weighing
various ingredients such as rolled cereal, ground up beans and two or
three forages into our mixer wagon. These feeds make up a "complete diet"
and provide the milking cow with the nutrition she needs to produce her
daily output of milk. This all happens by about 9.30am. The rest of the
cow's morning and early afternoon is spent eating, drinking (50-75 litres
per day), ruminating (re-digesting feed) and resting. Afternoon milking
takes place at about 4.00pm after the cows feed standings have been scraped
out again.
All the cattle are housed at some stage during the winter and all these
other groups of housed animals have to be fed and bedded daily. Barns
and yards are mucked out completely on a regular basis, generally about
every 6-8 weeks. The animals still outside (pigs and chickens) also have
to be fed and even the grazing ones (sheep) will need some supplementary
feeding during the winter.
It has been a long and at times difficult winter with crops difficult
to plant last autumn and high levels of feed and bedding used. The spring
always brings new hopes for a better harvest, and we are hoping for better
weather this year. The extremes of weather we seem to be having now are
making farming more challenging. We do need that elusive balance of rain
and sun to help us to produce the food we all enjoy. John
Farm visits showing you how we farm, why we are organic, our conservation
projects etc etc.
Suitable for adults or children accompanied by adults. Approx 1 and a
half hours. 10.30am. Booking essential. For dates see news.
John Farm Manager
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Abbey
Home Farm - Organic Producer of the Year 1999 
The
Organic Farm Shop - Organic Retailer of the Year 2000
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