Farming in harmony with nature and respect for animals
An adventure that started with the love for farming
It all began many years ago as a vocation which was to farm.
Years passed, experience grew but it never seemed to become the dream I longed for as a young 12 year old!
Today that dream has come into being as my thoughts evolved. Gone is the efficient modern industrial farming I thought I aspired to follow, and in comes a very different way of looking at one of our oldest domestic farm animal, the cow and the environment it lives in.
Our 2 key principles for sustainable farming
Cattle whispering
Cattle have long been reared for their milk, their meat, their skin as leather. They are separated and grouped in what humans think are efficient methods of management. But at Elsworthy, animal welfare is at the core of our work and we have tried and developed a different way based on Rosamund Young’s idea of cattle families. The Longhorn families remain in their natural grouping. They are allowed to roam areas they chose to. Amazing things happen as a result: stress from separations and artificial grouping just does not exist.
With Monty Roberts’ whispering technique of “joining up” cattle can be moved quietly and calmly; or they may decide to come up to you! It really is up to me (or you) to understand what an animal is asking for or expressing. A very different way of communicating!
Hill farm regeneration
What is the role of this farm in its hill environment? Is it healthy? Is the soil improving so that the environment thrives? Is the biodiversity or natural richness improving as soil is restored?
These are big questions Philip keeps on challenging himself with.
If hill farms are not attractive to commercial concerns, they are very important in environmental terms as nature diversity hotspots. Philip not only thinks this is necessary, he is putting in place a new management to make this happen. Elsworthy farm is there to demonstrate how cattle can really thrive on “rough” grass and browse hedges, which reduces carbon emissions because it stops any need to feed cereal based diets.
Elsworthy farm is also working to revitalise the soil and return the land to the levels of organic matter closer to those it had centuries ago as a “forest” with woodland and grazed clearings. If the cattle use and recycle vegetation through their dung this improves biodiversity and the carbon cycle; it also complements the natural vegetation cycle which feeds the fungal and bacterial life we are all learning about.