Probably about time I gave you an update about my week in the North travelling for my Nuffield scholarship which is looking at animal health and welfare in regenerative agriculture. Nuffield is primarily a travel scholarship which, impeded by Covid, has meant I’ve travelled the UK much more than I would have done which has been brilliant!

In August, I headed North with a mattress and a gas stove in the back of my truck (it was surprisingly comfy actually!) From an organic dairy in
Cumbria creating space for nature with species-rich hay meadows, creation of wiggly becks and ponds onto a beef and sheep enterprise making their own soap in the Lakes, grazing cattle on the fells above Coniston Water, to another family business aiming to return ecosystem function to their land using fell ponies and pigs. And a further visit to a farm selling eggs from pastured poultry that follow their cows in an ‘eggmobile’! From there, up to Scotland to see a calf-at-foot dairy and a rare breed farm with cows such as the Vaynol – a small and feisty native of which there are only 150 breeding animals registered.
They are used for conservation grazing owing to their small stature but there are thoughts that their genetic diversity could be crucial in future breeding programs. The known herds are separated geographically across the UK to protect from any disease outbreak.
I visited a farm near Ayr practising mob grazing using tall grass and long rotations with their cattle – aiming to maximise forage utilisation and improve soil health. Shropshire feels positively balmy on a Winters day compared to what it felt like here, atop the cliffs in August! From there, up to a croft in the Cairngorms farming truly marginal land and using techniques such as tree hay cutting to maximise their available winter forage. Stacking enterprises such as beef, pigs and chickens with an on-farm butchery – diversity to improve resilience.

Another day and another two farms – sheep and beef. One utilising agroforestry to provide shelter and shade where we talked supply chains and our personal footprints on the planet. Back down south to Fife to a 3000ac arable farm providing crops for the human food chain and utilising cattle to improve soil fertility. Planting a diverse cover crop after harvest including phacelia, vetch, buckwheat, sunflowers, peas, radish etc – different root depths to reduce compaction, legumes to reduce N input and a varied diet for the cows. And finally, to Northumberland to meet two brothers running a thriving sheep and beef enterprise
focussed on performance recording and minimising inputs including out wintering many of their animals.
And that’s it! My whistle-stop tour of the north! As ever, the hospitality in the farming community was second to none and I was fed, watered and even given a bed on a few occasions!
Incredible opportunity to meet some great producers, with an infectious passion for British agriculture and I haven’t even told you about my week
in the south yet! Another day and another two farms – sheep and beef. One utilising agroforestry to provide shelter and shade where we talked supply chains and our personal footprints on the planet. Back down south to Fife to a 3000ac arable farm providing crops for the human food chain and utilising cattle to improve soil fertility. Planting a diverse cover crop after harvest including phacelia, vetch, buckwheat, sunflowers, peas, radish etc – different root depths to reduce compaction, legumes to reduce N input and a varied diet for the cows. And finally, to Northumberland to meet two brothers running a thriving sheep and beef enterprise focussed on performance recording and minimising inputs including out wintering many of their animals.
And that’s it! My whistle-stop tour of the north! As ever, the hospitality in the farming community was second to none and I was fed, watered and even given a bed on a few occasions!
Incredible opportunity to meet some great producers, with an infectious passion for British agriculture and I haven’t even told you about my week
in the south yet!