What we do…
Hay, Haylage and Straw
Every year we produce fresh hay, haylage and straw. About 150 acres of the farm is used to out produce hay and haylage. We produce some for our own use over the year, but the majority of this crop is sold to our local customers. We work hard to produce the best quality hay and haylage, and with the Devonshire weather, getting the bales just right is more of an art form than a science!
Our hay, haylage and straw is available as both small square bales, and 1large round bales and are also available for event seating. We also deliver!
Pigs
We rear just under 300 pigs on the farm. A favourite of Michael’s, the pigs certainly have a lot of character. Our young pigs are brave and inquisitive and love a good scamper, while our adult pigs are gentle giants that love a good scratch, especially behind the ears. Our mama and daddy pigs live in our old cob barns and love sunbathing (maybe a little too much for their own good!), but equally love to snuggle up in fresh straw for a nap.
Christmas Poultry
Our family have been producing Christmas poultry continuously for 70 years. It all began when June Western started rearing and selling poultry when she was just fourteen years old in much the same way that we do today.
We bring all our poultry onto the farm as day old chicks and prepare them to oven ready all on farm. We sell our poultry direct to our customers and to local butchers, so you can be sure they are of the best quality.
Cattle
We have about 250 cattle on the farm. We buy in calves and then once old enough put them out to graze across about 100 acres of almost all permanent pasture and of course the first thing they do in a new field is to go skipping around the perimeter, tails in the air. We have a range of cattle breeds on the farm including Angus’, Herefords, Friesian crosses, and Blue’s. These beautiful gentle giants are a real delight on the farm.
Other Crops
Over about 50 acres of the farm we grow a range of cereals and other arable crops. These range from spring barley and winter wheat, to fodder beet and maize. Like much of our farm practices, we do much of the arable farming ourselves, from preparing the soil, drilling the seed and harvesting the crop, but in recent years we have begun contracting out some of the work to specialists. One of these jobs being the combining, as our old grandad combine harvester, in the photo to the left, sometimes struggles to start, but to be fair he is technically a historic vehicle!
Harvest time is always a busy time of year!