Organic Farming
Jon, farm manager, Holt Farm
Getting things right on the farm is the most important thing we do… But then I would say that, because I’m the farm manager!
We aren’t only about the cows, we also grow crops for their feed, work hard at wildlife conservation and a whole lot more!
Things that really matter to us...
Supporting British Farmers
As the things we make became more popular, we couldn’t supply all the milk we needed from our own cows. So, over the years, we’ve formed partnerships and pooled our resources with other farmers in co-operatives (where the farmers jointly own the business that collects, sells and sometimes processes the milk).
The original co-operatives were OMSCO (the Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative) and Milk Link. Milk Link is now a part of Arla (a co-op that started out in Sweden and Denmark, which is now in the UK), and we’re proud to say we now have over 130 farmer co-operative members supplying us with milk.
Looking after our wildlife
We work incredibly hard to look after all the wildlife on our farms – we need birds and small animals to eat the bugs that could harm our crops, and we want to protect the landscape (and everything that lives in it) for generations to come.
As organic farmers, we don’t use any artificial fertilisers or chemical sprays. This is an incredibly important way of creating an environment for wildlife to thrive in. We’ve also dedicated 25 acres of our farm purely to giving homes to wild species like field mice, voles and skylarks. We also leave extra-wide margins around all our fields so our resident barn owls can happily hunt for their supper.
Nature's energy supply
If you can remember your biology from school, you’ll know plants need nitrogen to grow – so we grow fields of red and white clover which do the trick fantastically.
The clover takes nitrogen from the air and put it straight into the soil to enrich it, helping future plants that grow there to thrive, while the leaves act like millions of tiny solar panels, removing nitrogen from the atmosphere and storing the energy in the soil where it’s available for other plants. At the end of the cycle we cut the clover and feed it to our cows – much to their delight.
So you see, this way, everyone’s a winner.
Trees and hedges
Most of the hedges and woods on our farms have been around for hundreds of years – and we hope they’ll be around for hundreds more to come.
In the valley, we’ve introduced lots more young trees as a way of conserving our natural species, attracting wildlife and making the area look more attractive. We also plant plenty of new hedges – whilst looking after all the old ones – they give birds and small animals places to shelter and build their homes, so they’re really important.
Want to learn more?
Come for a tour!
Get up close and personal with us on one of our farm tours. We’ll take you around, show you what we do and, at the end, have an all-important tasting session.
Our Organic Cows
Since day one, we’ve only ever had British Friesians on our farms in the Valley.
We now have over 400 British Friesians in our herds and they thrive on the Valley’s organic rich, green pastures.
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