My husband and I are a 1st generation husband and wife team, grazing native breed cattle and sheep to care for the soil and wildlife. We are running a Pasture for Life (www.pastureforlife.org) certified livestock system under organic conversion with Organic Farmers and Growers (www.ofgorganic.co.uk), which encompasses regenerative practices and conservation grazing with native breed cattle and sheep. We farm together with nature - making sure that the food and fibre we produce is helping to regenerate the environment around us.
Livestock is the most efficient way of naturally managing pasture. With a thoughtful combination of livestock type, stocking density and grazing periods, livestock can look after fields to improve soil health and produce areas that are both productive and rich in wildlife. A thriving ecosystem needs animals of all shapes and sizes - the instinctive behaviour of livestock to trample down organic matter, eat and spread naturally fertilised seeds and leave dung and urine behind for beetles and other ecosystem warriors, means that their approach to eating is naturally regenerative - as farmers, it's our job to facilitate that.
Healthy soil is fundamental to our future; to create a farming system that works in balance with nature and to produce good quality nutritional food - and fibre. Soil that is healthy can function properly; it can naturally absorb carbon from the atmosphere through a process known as ‘sequestration’, which reduces harmful greenhouse gases. It can build our resilience to climate change by offering better drainage and improving flood risk, and it can allow us to produce better quality food with higher nutritional value, whilst simultaneously reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers and harmful pesticides.
