“We had a very wet year in 2012 and half the potatoes and half the soil from one field ended up in the village. We said, we’re not going to stop this…”

That was John and Julie’s epiphany. From then on they adopted a no-till (no ploughing) approach to their arable land and have never looked back.

Mixed farms were once the norm but are now a rarity, but they make sense. John and Julie’s cattle are housed in winter and their manure is composted to fertilise the arable land. This, and the cattle used in rotation with crops, means that the land is natural fertile.

“It’s all done by nutrition rather than any chemicals.”

John and Julie were farming regeneratively before most people had heard of such a thing. The soil, never ploughed and well mulched, is teaming with life. This ‘small life’ in the soil is the base of the food chain and so the farm buzzes with insects and rings with bird song.

The stars of Trecorras farm are their beautiful Red Poll Cattle. This rare breed is grown here on a 100% forage fed diet, from the meadows, herbal leys, trees and hedgerows of the farm.

Cow’s use plants as Medicine

“What’ very interesting is if we put our cattle on the rye grass, they
don’t like it. Also, the cows actually self medicate. So, for example, if they’ve got toothache they eat willow.”

One of the things we witness of farms where animals have access to a large choice of forage is that they know what to eat when to treat aliments, correct nutritional deficiencies and maintain their wellbeing.

This also means that the nutrient density and quality of their meat is second to none. The difference is in the taste!

Trecorras farm’s cattle are not fooled by the green revolution’s fast growing Italian rye grass as a substitute for a quality mixed forage!

Land resistant to flood and drought

“Last year when our relatives in Sydney, Australia, had more rain than we did and other peoples crops were dying, ours hung in there. Now we’ve had a lot of rain and the rooting zone of our crops is still free draining, not water logged, so the crops are still growing, so we know we are heading the right direction.”

Living soils act like a sponge so that land can withstand droughts and heavy rains 10 years in, Trecorras Farm has been transformed. The soil are darker and full of worms and there is no need for insecticides because the farming system is in balance. The cattle are key to the regenerative farming system.

“On this journey we learned that monocultures are actually very bad for the soil and very bad for the soil life. A single species crop only feeds the soil bacteria that live off that crop. So if you plant a lot of species together, you are feeding more soil life. Then we learned if you graze those plants, it actually feeds the soil even more.”

“The more inorganic products that you use, the more you kill the soil bacteria, the more you need to supplement your crop, until you
basically end up with a sterile sand as a growing medium. Then the
rains washes it out the gate and the sunshine bakes it hard.”

Wildlife at Trecorras Farm

The government are looking to mandate on multi-year rotational hedge cutting, but John has been doing this for years, so the hedges on the farm are really thick.

‘We’ve seen an abundance of birds come back on the farm, like yellowhammers and other things we haven’t seen for a long time.”

Yellowhammers nest in the very bottom of hedgerows and so are one of the species that have been seriously adversely affected by annual hedge cutting so common across the country.

“What’s interesting is we often have swallows following the cattle, to pick of flying insects.”

Hares, fieldfares, skylarks and populations of small birds have all benefited from the change in farming regime.

John and Julie started off with seven heifers (young cows) in 2017, now they have 45 cows with calves and a bull.

The beef is well marbled, a lean meat, not heavy in fat.

“We supply a local restaurant where the chef is French trained. When he tasted our beef he said ‘Wow, I haven’t had beef like this since I was in France!’”

One of the reasons Trecorras farm is full of wildlife is because they do not use wormers on their cattle. The animals are rotated around the pastures on the farm which prevent the reinfection of parasites. So rather than the dung being toxic to beetles and insects, it is full of them.

John and Julie also try to stay away from insect repellents and instead give the cattle a garlic lick to keep the flies away.

Sunflowers feature in field margins, grown for pollinators and bird food.

John and Julie run the family farm as a husband and wife team. They both love their farming life, despite the challenges and aren’t afraid to try out new approaches and ideas. John loves learning and sharing his knowledge about how to regenerate the land and farming and it is obvious to anyone that speaks with them that Julie’s support and knowledge is instrumental in ensuring everything runs as smoothly as possible.

John is now being recognised for what he does. He has been awarded an associateship with the Royal Agricultural Society and has been asked to be director of the Herefordshire Rural Hub, dedicated to improving environmental health.

We are very happy to welcome John and Julie and all at Trecorras Farm here at Primal Stakes! Order a cow share HERE