Farm Information
- Farming Standards
- News from the Farm
Farm Information
All the beef, pork and lamb you see in store and on our website has been locally sourced from our friends at New Laithe Farm just down the road.
The animals live in a "low stress" environment and enjoy over 600 acres of beautiful farm land, that's around 600 football pitches!
The farm is a member of EFSIS/FABBL. This allows producers to prove that the standards of welfare on the farm meet nationally agreed levels of best practice, and gives an assurance to the consumer that the product is safe.
EFSIS/FABBL membership enables producers to assure customers, retailers and consumers of the standard to which livestock and combinable crops are produced. It will help producers secure a market for the future as the Standards are designed to meet retailer requirements and are in accordance with all current codes of practice and legal requirements. Abattoirs, auction markets, millers and maltsters are increasingly requesting Farm Assured beef, lamb, pigs, cereals and produce.
EFSIS-FABBL is licensed to use the ABM Beef and Lamb Farm Standards (www.abm.org.uk).
"A fully assured product from farm to retailer"
The EBLEX Quality Standard scheme gives every business throughout the supply chain the highest levels of assurance about the beef and lamb they buy.
Not only is Quality Standard beef and lamb produced to higher standards than required by law, the EBLEX scheme is unique as the
only one of its kind to include eating quality.
That means you can be more confident in the tenderness and succulence of your meat when it’s Quality Standard beef and lamb. These key factors of tenderness and succulence are vital to ensure consumer satisfaction.
The additional requirements of the Quality Standard scheme over and above current legal standards are designed to minimise the impact of animal age on eating quality – providing you with both
improved and more consistent eating quality.
RSPCA - Freedom Food
Freedom Food is the farm assurance and food labelling scheme established by the RSPCA. The scheme is a non-profit charity in its own right, set up in 1994 to improve the welfare of farm animals and offer consumers a higher welfare choice.
There are specific RSPCA welfare standards for laying hens, chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs, sheep, salmon, beef and dairy cattle. These are based on leading scientific, veterinary and industry advice.
News from the farm Monday 30th November
Now that the maize has been successfully harvested it really feels like winter has arrived on the farm. The cows and spring-born calves, having spent the summer months together at pasture are now being introduced to their winter diet. As well as the maize this also includes grass silage and barley. Calving has commenced in the Autumn herd and will be completed by Christmas. The sheep will hopefully all be in-lamb and the first new-borns are expected from 1st February 2010.
Taken from the Yorkshire Post
(Published Date: 11 September 2009)
A COMPUTER game which allows users to run their own virtual farms is sparking a renewed interest in farming.
Farmville, an internet application that allows players to manage the stock and grow crops, has proved a global sensation with some 72 million people now playing and one million more signing up each week.
On it players can produce milk, meat or veg etables depending on which route they wish to pursue.
The better the farm performs the more money the players can earn from selling their virtual wares at market – providing capital which they can then invest in the farm to increase capacity.
The game has become the largest and fastest growing social networking game in history.
Media commentators claim the success is due to the growing trend of urbanites aiming for a more self-sustained lifestyle due to the impact of recession and this trend is now spilling over into the digital world.
Now there are hopes Farmville will encourage a further generation of people to take an interest in agriculture.The average age of UK farmers is becoming increasingly older with new ways of encouraging young blood into farming being explored across the industry.
Susie Lee of Whirlow Hall Farm near Sheffield, which organises visits from inner-city children to experience what life is like on a farm, said that there had been an upsurge in inquiries since the game appeared online.
Ms Lee said: "When we open again for demonstrations we hope to capitalise on the fact that people have been playing this game and come to see what life is like in the real world.
"Hopefully it will put people's interest levels up."
Bridget Evans, the farm trust's chief executive, said: "The influence of Facebook farming games means rural values are a hot topic as people are choosing a different digital life to the one they currently lead."
The game is the most popular on social networking site Facebook, with another farming game, Farm Town, the second most popular.
Mark Pincus, chief executive and founder of Zynga, the company behind the game, said: "There is something universally appealing about farming which speaks to large, diverse audiences. FarmVille will take what players love about the farm genre, and add a mixture of new and delightful features and design elements that have been so successful for us in our previous games.
"The farm category in social gaming has shown amazing growth over the past couple years, especially in Asia."