Red Barn Farm Dairy
Our Herd 'The Girls'
We have 150 Holstein x Friesian cows. Grazed during the summer months on the farm's many lush pastures,. During the winter 'the girls' are fed on home-grown pickled grass (silage), whole crop wheat and maize forage in the comfort of their warm barn. Our cows have additional feed to balance their diet, all soya free and British sourced to reduce carbon footprint and deforestation. No other supplements, such as Bovaer, are ever added to our cow's feed.
Health & Welfare
The cows have regular veterinary checks by our fantastic farm vet, Evan (Norcal) for general health and well-being.
Our foot trimmer, Matt comes once a month to ensure the girls have a routine pedicure at least twice a year and to help them with any issues.
In a herd of 150, there are always some characters that stand out. Here's our top 4 at the moment.
RED
One of our highest yielding cows, who knows she’s a queen, will only go in one particular parlour milking stall and comes in when she’s good and ready,
PESKY
Our naughtiest girl, who sneaks through the parlour to poke open the dairy door and steal the yummy glucose & vitamin powder.
FLORENCE
One of our younger ladies, named after Rhian’s wonderful chemo nurse, who came to visit the farm.
BLACKIE
The friendliest heifer ever, wherever you are…. She is.
Salt & Pepper
Yes, the cows are the stars of the show, but the Red Barn Farm Dairy mascots need a mention here.
Salt & Pepper are our pet goats and they would love you to say hello when you're buying your Mootritious Milk. They'll be in the field next to the car park.
Environment
We are members of the country side Stewardship scheme and have untouched areas for wildlife habitats around the farm.
As well as embracing the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme, we maintain green cover over winter, by growing extra grass crops to minimise our carbon footprint. This also provides additional home grown feed for our girls.
SFI also encourages hedgerow management for nesting birds. In addition to this we maintain a 3 metre grass border between hedge and crop for wildlife corridors.