And we're off!


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Mooooore Dairy

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Over the past few days we have had the opportunity to visit two different conventional dairy farms. The first one was Southview Farm. Southview is owned by Charlie Hughes, it is family farm that has been in the Hughes family since 1919. Charlie took over the farm in 2008 from his father, and has made several upgrades to the farm to make it as efficient as possible. The farm currently milks 100 head of Holstein-Friesian cattle (the typical breed found in England), but is working towards increasing the herd to 120 head.   Since Charlie has three kids of his own, he wants his farm to run as efficiently as possible, which is why he has adapted several technologies on the farm that are not usually found on a farm of his size. Southview Farms uses robotic milkers, automatic lighting, automatic calf feeders, and automatic feed scrapers. The robotic milkers allow the cows to go in and milk themselves whenever they want to be milked, which Charlie says is a minimum of twice a day. Southview Fa
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Two Shakes of a Lamb's Tail

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Farming is a hard business and there’s not much worse than low and unsteady prices.   To help supplement & stabilize their finances, some farms have diversified their operations into more than just one or two crops or species.   This is the case with Northfield Farm and Sondes Place.   Inside of the on-farm shop at Northfield Farm, you can find cuts of lamb right alongside their beef offerings that were raised on their farm.   At Sondes Place, the cattle are neighbored by around 300 Highlander ewes.   They have also developed an asparagus field, local school programs, a firewood enterprise, & environmentalism and stewardship schemes.          Whether in the pasture or the display case, beef and lamb at Northfield Farm can be found right alongside each other.   Their beef animals graze in the same paddock as their near 100 breeding ewes with lambs.   This flock contains genetics from a range of breeds including the local Border Leicester as well Scotch Halfbreds, Cheviot
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