About our meat:​

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What meat do you sell?

     We sell rare breed Oxford Down lamb/hogget & mutton and 100% pasture fed beef and at Christmas we sell free range bronze turkeys. We also are developing our Oxford sandy & black pig herd so have occasional outdoor reared pork, sausages and bacon.

We do occasionally buy whole Chickens from our friend George at Nempnett pastures near Bristol to sell at our monthly pop-up farm shop. He rears his chickens on a fully pastured system throughout the summer using livestock guardian dogs to protect the flock from predators. His chickens are reared to more than three times the age of supermarket birds and taste fantastic!

Whilst we are establishing our pig herd and due to popular demand, we do buy sausages from our friends Nick and Jon at Paddock Farm, Warwickshire. They have a herd of 70 Tamworth pigs that are totally outdoor reared. They supply sausages to Raymond Blanc from their own butchers shop in Brailes, Oxfordshire.

 

Is it all from your farm?

       The Oxford Down sheep flock and Oxford sandy & black pigs are looked after by Lindsay and the beef cattle once they come over from Chris’s brother and uncle’s farm at Waterhay are looked after by Chris. Chris is responsible for the Christmas turkeys.

Lindsay is in charge of all the butchering of the lamb/hogget/mutton and pork and Chris’s brother Andy co-ordinates the beef butchery and pre-orders.

We have a fully equipped on farm butchery and cold rooms.

As explained above we do occasionally buy chicken and sausages from our farming friends. These will all be clearly labelled as such. These farms are our chosen suppliers as we personally know them and know how their animals are cared for.

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Where are your animals slaughtered?

      We have always used a family run small abattoir near Stroud, we personally know and trust the slaughterman. We always load the animals ourselves and take them in our own trailer and we take animals in pairs so they aren’t stressed from being separated. Cattle are pre-stunned with a captive bolt and immediately bled. Sheep and pigs are stunned electrically before being immediately bled. The meat is delivered directly from the abattoir to our cold room here on the farm. They do not offer Halal or Kosher slaughter.

 

How long do you hang your meat?

Beef is usually hung for 28 days

Lamb, hogget, mutton and pork hanging ranges from 4 – 10days

 

Do you use hormones/growth promoters?

     No, There is a big misconception of the use of growth promoters/growth hormones. This is not a practice that is legal in the UK in any farmed animal. We also don’t use any hormones for fertility treatments.

 

What do you feed your cows/sheep/pigs?

        Our cows are certified with PFL (Pasture fed livestock) as being 100% pasture fed. Our sheep, although not certified are also completely pasture fed apart from mineral lick buckets. Our pigs are fed a ready made concentrate pellet and are outdoor reared so they also eat grass and bugs!

Did you know a cow only needs to be fed 51% grass to be classed as ‘grass fed’. Our 100% Pasture-fed produce contains higher levels of certain beneficial nutrients, vitamins (A and E), minerals (zinc, iron, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, potassium), and antioxidants (SS-carotene, β-carotene) than grain-fed alternatives. It also tends to be lower in total fat, to have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and to have a lower, more balanced (and healthier) ratio of omega-6:omega-3 fatty acids, together with significantly higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid.

 

[Research from Van Vliet et al, 2021; Butler et al, 2021; Davies et al, 2022; Davis et al, 2020; Dunne et al, 2009, O’Callaghan et al, 2016] taken from the PFL website

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Are your organic?

          No, we have found the main interest from our customers is that all of our meat is fully traceable, fed a species appropriate diet and reared in a free-range, stress free way. We run many farm tours and people often assume we are organic, this is because we farm in harmony with nature and the environment and share most of the principles with organic farming – just without the costly certification. We make a lot of hay on Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves and these are not, and never never be organic certified. We use no artificial fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides.