Aug 24th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Just to let you know that as of August 10th, Chris Reynolds is back at the helm of Horton Park Farm, having left 6 years ago. It was Chris who started the farm down the organic path 12 years ago or more and now, three managers later, it is wonderful to be back!
Aug 3rd, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
The first draw of our Horton Park Organic lambs went away this week. These were from the single lambs. Ready at 16 weeks reared on just grass and milk, brilliant. Two will be delivered next week to The Farriers Arms at Mersham, and two to Rock Salt in Folkestone. Thank you for your orders. Next week we will be sorting through the twin lambs, and the week after we will go back through the singles. After that we will grade them fortnightly.
Harvest is stop and start. We have started and we have stopped. Some of the oil seed rape (canola) has been harvested with disappointingly low yields due to the dark and wet summer. Harvest time for all UK farmers will be a challenge this year.
Tags: Harvest, Horton Park Farm, organic lamb, Rock Salt, The Farriers Arms
May 4th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Time for a Spring update.
Lambing is just about over with only a few stragglers left to lamb. Luckily the bulk of our outdoor lambing took place in early April when the weather was fine and dry. Because it is an outdoor lambing system we have not had an exact count but think that we have around 300 lambs who are skipping and jumping in between the heavy rain showers.
This year the cattle are quite late to be turned out on account of the poor weather. There are a minimum of four issues which have to be considered every year as to the exact timing of turnout:
- Is there enough grass in the fields for cattle to graze?
- How much winter feed [silage ] is left?
- After all this rain, how much damage will rampaging cattle do to the sward? On turnout they get very excited and galloping around madly which they do can cause a lot of damage to the sodden and fragile turf.
- Weather forecast. Jon does not want to have to fetch them back in if the weather takes a turn for the worse. If the weather is really bad after turnout the cattle can lose a lot of condition and to run a profitable beef unit the young stock and fattening cattle should gain weight every single day of their lives.
We have taken a faecal sample from the ewes and the vets now advise that we worm them. We will be testing the lambs faeces too to be sure that all the animals are kept in optimum health. We then will seek approval from the Soil association for a derogation to carry out this essential task. Last spring was very dry and there was no worm burden.
Edgar the new South Devon bull
This is Edgar, the new South Devon bull. He arrived this week and is Kent born and bred and he has gone into 30 days isolation before being turned out in June to run with our best South Devon cows to produce our herd replacements. This photo was taken at his old home.
He replaces Steaming Billy who was only bought last year but sadly died suddenly before Christmas of a clostridial disease. We got permission from the Soil Association to vaccinate the herd against this group of diseases which live in the soil and include tetanus.
We are almost ready to send the next beef animal away, we need just 2 more orders, please see our beef page for details.
Plus for teachers and school children Jon and Sarah Birchall will be on hand at Living Land at the Kent Showground to demonstrate flour milling and explain about how crops are grown for food. Look out for us in the INTERACTIVE ZONE right next to the baker who will be breadmaking with all the children.
Tags: breadmaking, calving, cattle, clostridial disease, faecal egg count, flour, grass, Kent showground, lambing, Living Land, May, milling, Spring, sward, tetanus, turf, turnout, vaccination, youngstock
Mar 23rd, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Last Friday was a First Aid refresher for Sarah with St John’s Ambulance in Ashford. It is always good to keep skills up to date and meet up with other work place First Aiders and hear their stories.
Two tragic stories have hit the news over last weekend. Firstly, a fatality on a farm. And as almost everyone knows the sudden and very dramatic collapse of Fabrice Muamba while playing in the FA Cup Final. It brings home to all of us the message that First Aid training is vitally important.
At the course, the two busiest ‘refreshers’ were a boarding school nurse and someone who worked in a food factory where the Chefs were frequently burning themselves. Their first aid skills were constantly used, unlike on a farm where when called upon it is quite likely to be something major.
Statistically farming is very dangerous, and so many farmers work alone which increases the risks. A combination of large machinery, animals, and pressure to get the job done can all lead to dangerous situations.
Ask any one of us and we can all tell you about a close call we have had, or the various trips to the casualty department for stitches and x rays. Yet the most shocking thing about this mornings refresher was the trainer who said that in the 20 years he had been running these courses I was only the fourth person from a farm to be trained on that he knew of.
Here is a quote from the NFU website: “ Over the last ten years, 455 people have died in accidents on British farms and 1,700 were seriously injured. Some 38 of those deaths came last year. Agriculture is now the most dangerous industry in the country, based on accidents per worker. ”
There are various initiatives which run from time to time trying to promote greater awareness and care during farming operations.
“Make the promise and come home safe” is one such scheme run by the Health and Safety Executive. There are stories on there which make very uncomfortable reading, but I urge you to publicise this campaign and remind all those involved in agriculture to think about making the promise, as well as training in First Aid, and any other specific training that may be necessary.
Internet issues. Apologies for so few posts this week, we are really struggling with our internet connection to the farm office. We will keep you updated.
Tags: animals, campaign, come home safe, Farming, First Aid, HSE, internet, machinery, Make the promise, NFU, St John's Ambulance
Mar 14th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Yesterday the 3 Chefs from the Farriers Arms came to choose their next beef animal. They chose a well covered Aberdeen Angus cross South Devon heifer, as they want marbled meat.
We could not photograph this animal yesterday but will take a picture of her before she goes to Anglo Dutch Meats at Charing in the week of 2nd April. ADM will hang the carcass for 28 days as requested by the Chefs.
However a photo will appear on here of Jon talking to Chris, Tony and Ed in the cattle shed about the finer points of beef production. Some days we struggle with rural broadband issues in the office and today is one of those days!
For those who would like this top quality beef to cook in the comfort of their own home should know that we are currently taking orders from private customers for our delicious organic beef which will be ready in May or June, depending on how quickly the list fills up. Please see our beef page for further details.
Tags: Aberdeen Angus, Anglo Dutch Meats, beef, Chefs, organic, rural broadband, South Devon, The Farriers Arms
Mar 9th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
This is a busy time of year for livestock farmers, and for arable farmers too. All tasks have to be fitted in around the weather and it feels as if we have had the winter’s rainfall arrive over the course of the last week. However we are rather glad we are not farming in Scotland as they have had far too much rain and almost all at once. The grass has really started to grow which is very good as we start lambing in three weeks time.
We have had a few animal health issues on the farm in recent weeks and to counter these problems our excellent vets have prescribed mineral boluses for the sheep and vaccination for the ewes against the clostridial diseases. These are a group of several diseases which are soil borne and include tetanus.
Vaccinating the ewes with Heptavac P
Open wide please
The Soil Association have given us permission to do these treatments and a derogation for treatment is permissible on the grounds of animal welfare.
We are all anxious over the threat of Schmallenberg disease as we know there are already confirmed cases in Kent. However we hope, because we lamb in April, that we may yet escape it. This is because the breeding season for our sheep was in November and hopefully there were fewer midges around at the critical time of foetal development.
On the non-organic farmland applying fertiliser to the oilseed rape (canola) will be the next task once the fields have dried up enough for a tractor to travel without causing damage to the soil structure. The drilling of the spring beans crop is also on the list.
Tags: animal welfare, April, arable, beans, canola, ewes, Heptavac P, lambs, midges, mineral bolus, November, oilseed rape, organic, rainfall, Schmallenberg, sheep, Soil association, tractor, vaccination, weather
Mar 8th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Today, we have updated the website with new pages detailing how to buy our delicious organic beef and lamb, and the plans for educational access visits for schools.
Please click on the page tabs for more details. Thank you
Tags: beef, educational access, lamb, meat sales, new pages, organic beef, organic lamb, school visits
Mar 1st, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Here at Horton Park Farm we feed organic red clover silage through the winter to the cattle in the shed. This silage is harvested and stored in the large clamps two or three times a year. Last year’s silage was made in two batches, June and October.
Depending on the analysis of the crop we add in vitamins, and additional feed such as home-grown beans or wheat if required.
Walking through the sheds last week a bottle top was picked up from the silage in the feeding passage.
this could choke an animal
Hidden dangers that could kill
As you can see from the picture this cap has been squashed or possibly even chewed. It could choke a younger animal to death or cause a major digestive upset in a larger animal. It is just one of the frequent hazards we, and all farmers, have to cope with.
A lot of our fields have roads running alongside, and it is not always possible for us to pick up all the litter especially in the silage fields where the grass and clover grow long and such perils are easily hidden. So many things are flung from car windows without a thought for the consequences, or the fact that someone else will have to pick it up if it is spotted.
We were lucky this time but we can never be sure. Even litter in fields with footpaths can cause major problems. Farm animals have been known to eat crisp packets and all manner of modern packaging, and not always without serious health implications.
If we could persuade everyone to take their litter home and in this Olympic year particular to Keep Britain Tidy it will make life safer for all our animals too. This is just another strand of our educational training that we will incorporate into our school visits later this year.
Tags: bottle top, cattle, farm animals, June, Keep Britain Tidy, litter, October, Olympic, red clover, road, school visits, silage
Feb 24th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
The beef and lamb feedback has been amazing and very gratifying to receive. It is so much more rewarding to sell meat locally and actually hear what the customers think than to sell tons and tons of grain which you are not complimented on and often there can even be niggles over the quality.
The majority of the fat cattle which are sold to either Sainsbury’s or Marks and Spencer’s Organic ranges through Anglia Quality Meats who deal with the Organic Livestock Marketing Company are graded for quality but there is little or no feedback.
The Farriers Arms have ordered three more lambs and some more beef. We can agree that the beef truly is the finest as we went there for Sunday lunch and it was excellently cooked by the Chefs. Chris Pullar one of the Farriers’s Chefs told us the meat was “absolutely fantastic”.
I have a photograph of our Sunday Roast Beef Platter that I will put in later. Currently there are a few technology issues with uploading photos… just when one wants it to work.
[It should be pointed out that the beef on the plate was rare, just as requested. Well done beef was available too.]
Mark Sargeant from Rock Salt said this “Many of us have now tried a little piece of beef and the general consensus is that it’s possibly some of the best beef we have ever eaten. Even the top side and silverside are so tender that we can happily use them for roasting.”
All in all a good start to Horton Park local beef and lamb sales
Tags: beef, Chef, Farriers Arms, Horton Park, lamb, local food, Mark Sargeant, organic, Roast Beef, Rock Salt, Sunday lunch
Feb 15th, 2012 by hortonparkfarm
Today is our first beef day at HP.
Our first Horton Park organic Aberdeen Angus beef will be delivered this morning to a local restaurant and pub.
The beef has been hung for 28 days and will be absolutely delicious
Rock Salt in Folkestone were first to order a side of beef (half an animal) and the other half was sold to The Farriers Arms who have already bought our organic lambs .
We look forward to hearing about lots of happy customers. In time we hope those that eat the meat locally will also want to fill their own freezers with our quality locally produced beef and lamb .
We have more animals ready in the shed and will be selecting the best to sell in about 10 days time.
Tags: Aberdeen Angus, beef, Folkestone, freezer, lamb, meat, organic, Rock Salt, The Farriers Arms