Background
Having initially set up and developed a dairy farming and cheesemaking business in Bedfordshire we moved to Chapple Farm, Dolton in 2017 in order to farm livestock on a larger scale. A traditional Devonshire holding, the land is punctuated with small ponds, mature decidious woodland and the beautiful river Torridge.
Farming
Our main focus is on our herd of 200 dairy cows. They graze extensively from early spring through to autumn and we grow further grass, wholecrop (winter wheat, spring barley and peas) and maize to feed them through the winter when they are housed. We also rear dairy heifers and some dairy cross beef ourselves with additional dairy cross beef calves sold to other farmers to rear. Other enterprises on farm include sheep, contracting and sustainable production of firewood.
Sustainability
Having previously worked in architectural and structural design, sustainable development and renewable energy (further details are available here) we aim to draw on this experience and farm as sustainably as possible. Some examples include producing and utilising solar energy on farm, investing in technology to become more carbon efficient (auto-scrapers, variable speed pumps, silage pushing up, etc.), taking some areas out of production, catch crops after maize, tree planting and many more. We also participate in environmental stewardship schemes and we are members of the local wildlife trust’s river Torridge working group.
