We pride ourselves on the sustainability and provenance of all we sell at BQ and it is always enlightening, educational and inspirational to hear the methods used and the care taken from the suppliers and producers themselves. We were therefore delighted to chat with farmer Jane Oglesby, as we prepare to take delivery of one of her beautiful beasts!
Farming has been a major part of your family for generations. What drew you back in?
Well, in fact, it was my dad’s cousin’s side of the family that were the farmers and still are. As a child I grew up in cities but we spent many of our holidays at the farm in Malham, N. Yorkshire – and I just loved it. I felt very at home and comfortable with the animals. It started as a hobby small-holding, grew into the farm we now have. Initially, I produced meat for my family to eat; driven by a belief that the meat we were buying was potentially bad for the animals and bad for us. Soon friends and family started asking to try the meat and so we grew the herd a little. My knowledge of the damage to the land and an alternative way to farm really came much later on.
Sustainable is a word very often banded around these days in so many applications. What does sustainable mean to you in the context of the environment and specifically in relation to your farm and farming ethos?
I agree that sustainable seems to be used easily and often to define farming methods that may or may not be sustainable, but at best are a standstill. Replacing what theland has lost every year by artificial means and often ‘taking resources’ from other parts of the world via the animal feed system, to replace what we’re no longer able to grow effectively here.
Farming land in the UK is already highly depleted, so standing still is not enough. We use the term ‘regenerative’ to best explain our thinking and methodology. We are regenerating the soil on our land. It was previously farmed intensively for the dairy industry and so the fields were lacking in nutrients, needed constant ‘correction’ togrow grass and were not ‘alive’ in the way they need to be to regeneratee themselves every year.
‘Grass fed’ is a buzz word and often used by customers in the shop. Grass effectively grows say 6 months a year – so can you explain what you do November through April to keep the herd healthy. When do you typically bring the herd indoors and what kind of supplements are required to maintain health in the winter months?
First, I think we should explain the official definition of grass fed which is that an animal receives grass for 51% of its life. Compare that with Pasture for Life which is what we use where the animal gets no concentrated feed at any point in it’s life. All our beef is raised on pasture grown on the farm – either as fresh grazed or cut and stored for winter as hay or silage. Our animals are not routinely housed inside at any time of the year unless there is a welfare need for an individual animal, or sometimes when they are waiting to go to the abattoir in the next few weeks.
So we have allowed the soil to and nature to come back to life, so that we do not need to use any chemicals to keep growing healthy nourishing pasture that grows healthy nourished cattle. If we did nothing to our herd and farm for a year except move the animals around, the soil would deepen; the cattle would be content; the rainfall would be absorbed deeply into the land and there would be a supply of high quality human nourishment.
In the winter, we roll bales of hay out onto the ground and they eat it, lie in it and tread it into the fields which improves organic matter in the soil and treads seed into the soil. We give no supplements in the winter – the hay is made from diverse pasture which has many micronutrients and natural health support without any artificial additions. Native cattle breeds, like ours do not get ‘cold’ in a British winter. In fact, most hardy breeds dont need to start eating to generate heat until the temperature falls below about MINUS 15 degrees Celsius. The activity of the cow’s main stomach, the rumen, digesting the natural forage generates a lot of heat by the actions of digestion and fermentation of the cellulose. Animals are happier and healthier when they are outside compared to when they are housed inside.
What % of the herd do you retain for suckling and what % for beef typically?
The vast majority of our animals go for beef – we keep maybe 2-3 female calves a year to become breeding animals.
How do you know when a beast is ready for slaughter – what are you looking for?
Over many years of viewing the animals in the field before slaughter, we can by eye, tell when the animal has good muscle definition covered by a reasonable layer of fat. We will then get the best ones into the handling system a few days before an abattoir run and feel the sirloins, and check the brisket. just to be sure we were right.