The Farm
Climate and nature friendly farming is at the heart of everything we do at Westerlands. We have shifted purposefully towards regenerative farming, balanced with a strong desire to enhance biodiversity.
We like to think in terms of FOOD METRES, rather than food miles!
We are farm assured by Red Tractor, an accreditation scheme that underpins the high standards of British food
What is Regenerative Farming?
For us, it means ‘bringing back life’ and it all starts with our soil. If the soil is healthy, full of life, full of natural nutrients and organic matter, then it serves as the foundation for everything else above: the insects, the birds, the mammals. It is a conservation and rehabilitation focused approach to land management, food and farming systems.
For more than a hundred years, Westerlands had a focus on breeding race horses, but now we have shifted purposefully towards regenerative farming, balanced with a strong desire to enhance biodiversity.
What is Biodiversity?
Simply put, it’s all the different kinds of life in one area - animals, plants, even bacteria. These make up the natural world and when allowed to, will co-exist in ecosystems to maintain a balance and support all life.
At Westerlands, we are planting kilometres of new hedgerows, creating wildlife corridors and building beetle hotels. We let meadows grow to harbour insect life, which in turn, support birdlife. We have our own bees which help pollinate our area. We are doing everything we can to support nature.
Regenerative Farming and Enhancing Biodiversity - and the creation and protection of habitats - must go hand in hand.
At Westerlands, we balance a high-welfare livestock management business, with protection of the environment and enhancement of biodiversity.
Closed herd
Food security is important too.
We manage a small herd of Dexter cows that are served by our own Dexter bull. We also run a flock of Romney ewes with our South Downs ram. We keep a few native breed pigs too, which live free range in large enclosures on top of the South Downs. Biosecurity is key in farming and having a ‘closed herd’ is important to us for reducing the risk of our animals getting sick.
Our cows and sheep are all grass fed in fields which are a mix of chalk, clay and sand. A mild spring and hot summer have delivered a ‘mast year’, so our pigs have really enjoyed dining on the beech nuts and acorn crops! All our animals have a stress-free life, and they love our pure, sweet, bore-hole water.
Our bore hole on top of the South Downs uses the power of the sun to pump water from 120 metres below the surface. This water will have been filtered through chalk for thousands of years! Bore hole water is also supplied to the Graffham Down Trust area of nature reserves, which at certain times of year also use sheep and cattle for conservation grazing.