The Farmers Mart Aug-Sep 2018 - Issue 58 | Page 13

GAZEGILL ORGANICS 13
• AUG/SEP 2018
ground nests. This is better for nature, and the
hay contains numerous grasses and herbs,
so it provides a rounded winter feed for our
Shorthorn cows and rare breed sheep, sup-
plying essential nutrients and medicinal herbs
as well as being a natural diet for ruminants.
What little feed we use is UK grown, with peas,
pulses and lupins the protein source, and
being organic it’s GMO-free.
“During the summer months our cows
have free access to pastures where they
forage for different plant types and even
self-limit any potential illness. This natural,
healthy way also means that the vet visits
a lot less and it has a direct effect on the
quality of the milk, which is higher in Ome-
ga 3 than that from intensive silage-based
systems.”
Producing hay for the livestock is one
of the main jobs for the couple’s Case IH
Maxxum 115 tractor, which they purchased
from Metcalf’s Agricultural Engineers at
Chipping near Preston four years and 2,500
hours ago to replace a smaller JXU model.
TRADITIONAL BREEDS
The couple firmly believe that traditional
and indigenous breeds better suit their low
input, low impact system. Emma’s 75 Old
English Shorthorns average 4,000-5,000
litres per year and 4.8% butterfat. They are
never pushed for higher yields nor filled
with proteins and hormones, udders are
spotlessly cleaned and sanitised before
milking and the raw milk is tested daily.
Nothing is done to the milk after it comes
out of the cows - it simply goes straight
into the collection tank, where it is cooled,
bottled in the micro-dairy and sold directly
to consumers, either through the farm shop
or a weekly delivery scheme.
For Ian, the welfare of his animals is also
very important, and he regards the normal
process of disposing of or exporting male
calves as morally wrong. Instead, they
are grown on to 9-12 months to produce
rose veal. High in protein, low in fat and
great-tasting, it appeals to an increasing
number of ethical, discerning consumers.
Emma and Ian’s pig herd is also based on
a traditional breed, the Oxford Sandy and
Black. Slow grown and with a fantastic fat
layer, it produces pork with a taste that most
have either forgotten or never experienced,
making it a firm favourite in home kitchens
and restaurants. The sheep are a mixed
bunch, but mostly Hampshire Downs, a ver-
satile breed that produce strong lambs.
In 2007 the couple installed an on-farm
cutting plant to process the meat and
opened the farm shop a year later, setting
themselves a target of selling all the farm’s
production directly to consumers by 2015,
which they achieved a year early. Con-
trolling the retail price increases returns,
making outright production much less
important and allowing Emma and Ian to
operate a traditional, fully-organic system.
The next step will be the construction
of an on-farm restaurant and holiday lets
to tap into the demand from discerning
consumers who focus on quality rather
than price.
Echoes of its 500-year past may be
everywhere at Gazegill Farm, but cut-
ting-edge innovations and Emma and Ian’s
forward-focussed approach will help to
ensure that it continues to run for another
five centuries.
SPREADING THE WORD
Following in the footsteps of Emma’s
parents, who opened the farm to school
visits in the 1960s, each year Emma and Ian
host 250 to 300 free educational school and
group visits, where people of all ages can
learn about sustainable, organic agriculture
and how food is produced.
Sustainable energy also plays a signif-
icant role, the education centre being
heated by an air-source heat pump and
the water by a solar thermal array. With
4Kw of solar PV and a 20Kw wind turbine
the farm is already 75% self-sufficient
in energy, and plans include a purifying
plant for spring water plus a Hydro-elec-
tric generator, which will enable hydro-
gen harvested using surplus electric-
ity from the turbine to run the farm’s
vehicles.
As if that wasn’t enough, since August
2013 Emma and Ian have run the Gazegill
Education Experience, which offers day
activities for adults with mental health
illnesses and workplace-based experi-
ence in the farm’s herb and edible flower
poly tunnels and growing area.
The Countryfile TV show visited Gazegill Farm
at the beginning of 2018. https://youtu.be/
fQrzokQlRvY?t=12m3s