I FINALLY got to take a trip out of the office this week – only to be greeted, once again, with the rain, in the middle of July. Ridiculous. But what seemed like a grey day was immediately brightened when I arrived at Fowlescombe Farm in Devon and was greeted by the lovely farm manager Rosie Ball.
Rosie and her team farm around 450 acres of organic pasture and woodland. The farm is home to pedigree English Longhorn and Beef Shorthorn cattle, Manx Loaghtan sheep and Tamworth pigs. The farm, which is near Ivybridge, is owned by the Owens family and sits in a valley between Dartmoor National Park and the South Devon coast.
After growing up on a smallholding, Rosie went to university and studied conservation biology. In 2015, she worked for the previous owners of Fowlescombe, but then left and worked for Plymouth City Council.
When Fowlescombe was sold to the Owens family, Rosie was recommended as a good candidate for the role of farm manager – and so she came back.
Rosie Ball, farm manager. Image: @chrisiversenphotography
“I live on the farm, and I do everything from paperwork to the practical side of things,” explained Rosie.
“We’ve got a really good team here, and our skillset definitely complements one another. I am not a very good tractor driver, but we have someone who is – so it works well.
“We use regenerative farming methods at Fowlescombe. I don’t believe there is an ‘end point’ to regenerative farming, it is a process, a journey. But we also occasionally use traditional methods, such as ploughing to establish new crops and rejuvenate pastures with diverse seed mixes as part of our organic farming system.
“When I took over as farm manager, the biggest change we have made is to the grazing, so we move our animals more regularly. Our cows move every one to four days, and our sheep are moved between one and seven days.”
Manx Loaghtan Sheep. Image: @chrisiversenphotography
Rosie explained that they use electric fencing to divide up the larger fields, but they are limited sometimes in the division on the fields because of the gravity fed water systems and the topography of the land. They have to make sure to consider access and shade/shelter when dividing up fields.
Rosie added that moving the animals regularly increases utilisation of available forage and reduces worm burden on the pasture, which promotes healthier livestock and better growth rates.
When it comes to regenerative farming methods, Rosie believes it is something a lot of farmers are doing, they’re just not labelling their methods as regenerative. She explained that many people have different views on what regenerative means, but many farms agree on the following five principles:
- Minimise soil disturbance
- Maximise crop diversity
- Keep soils covered
- Maintain living roots year round
- Integrate livestock
“Regenerative farming is only a good thing,” Rosie added.
“When your farm is sustainable, you are maintaining the land, but with regenerative farming, you are farming it but also improving the land at the same time - this ensures it’s in the best possible condition to produce food for future generations.”
Rosie said the land is really important when deciding what to do on your farm. We visited a field filled with clover (and I found a five leaf clover, surely that is twice the luck?!), and Rosie explained that it took a few tries to get a seed mix that worked well for them.
“We would love to have cows outside all year round but our soil wouldn’t be able to handle that,” she said.
“We have Manx Loaghtan sheep, which are quite small – it’s about a 45kg ewe – and this means that in the winter our soils aren’t getting compacted.
“Working with the land is a constant learning process, especially with the unpredictable weather – the extremes are what make it challenging, and at those times we have to make decisions that are best for the soil and the animals. Although we aim for our pigs to be out all year round, this winter was so wet they had to come into the barns for a short period.
“A system that isn’t well suited to your land is not going to be sustainable long term. You will have additional costs if you are not doing the right thing. Every farmer wants the best for their animals which is going to be better financially as well. Everyone has the same best interests at heart - it is just how they get there that is different.”
Fowlescombe Farm is also home to Rare & Pasture – a charcuterie and smokery – which uses the farm’s animals to make the cured meats.
The Millbrook Inn sharing steak. Image: @RachelHoilephotography
The animals are slow grown, which means that the beef is usually finished over 24 months, some up to 30 months. If Fowlescombe were to sell their meat to a supermarket, they would be penalised on price, because of the age of the beef. However, they use the meat for their own charcuterie business, which means they can focus on the quality of the product – they can finish 30 month old longhorn cattle on grass alone, and still make profit by selling the meat at Rare & Pasture.
“Soon after the Owens family bought the farm, we got Mangalitza pigs,” explained Rosie.
“They wanted to cure a pig for cured ham and we ended up having a charcuterie company on site. Everyone has to have their niche, and each farm has to do what is right for them when it comes to diversification.
“Diversification might be some of the family having a job elsewhere, or for some people could be something like camping or glamping.
“If you are passionate about something then it will be successful. One thing we are passionate about at Fowlescombe is good food and high animal welfare – and so the charcuterie business was born.”
The Owens family also own the Millbrook Inn nearby in South Pool, and that’s another important outlet for the farm’s meat.
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