The Latest from Home Farm
Sep 5
Rain, rain go away!
With all this rain our milling grains, such as wheat and rye which are largely used for bread making, can be affected and in particular the quality of the starch, which forms most of the flour. The quality of the grain is checked using a Hagberg test which measures the potential quality of the dough. In a dry sunny harvest the Hagberg number is high which means the grain has the potential to produce a good elastic dough, but when it's wet like this it starts to think its back in the ground as a seed again and results in inferior dough....and bread.
Aug 29
Late Harvest at Home Farm
This year we've had the latest harvest since I started working at Home Farm in 1985. Normally by the August Bank Holiday Monday we've either finished or are close to finishing harvest and looking forward to a day off but due to all the rain this year this has not been the case.
So far we've only completed about a third of the harvest. There are 750 acres of crops to harvest on Home Farm. These include 160 acres of oats which go into Duchy Originals Biscuits, 100 acres of malting barley which go into Duchy Originals Ale, 200 acres of wheat, most of which goes into the Duchy Originals Biscuits, 25 acres of mustard, which goes into the Duchy Originals Wholegrain Mustard and 63 acres of rye.
Aug 20
Meet Mark, our Dairy Herdsman
I've been the Duchy Home Farm dairy herd manager for two years. It's my job is to make sure we're producing the best quality for our Duchy Originals Milk and to ensure that our Ayrshire cows and calves are looked after to the highest possible standards.
The average life of a conventional dairy cow is less than five years while the average age of our Ayrshire dairy cows is nearly twice that. This is because our cows produce about half as much milk as Holsteins and so are put under a lot less stress. Cows are not machines!
Each of our cows has a name which starts with the prefix Duchy so, for example, we have Duchy Buttermilk, Duchy Daisy. Each cow also has a pedigree certificate and passport with a number which must correlate to the cow's ear tag number - this means that we have complete traceability of all our animals.
Click on read more to hear about Mark's typical day...
Aug 14
Food, water, warm dry bed
On one of my first days at the Berkshire College of Agriculture we had a memorable pig lecture. The lecturer, Mr Ferguson, walked into the lecture theatre and wrote in large letters on the blackboard: food, water, warm dry bed. He said, 'That's all you need to know about looking after pigs. If you get these things right then the rest will take care of itself'...
Jul 31
Little Boar, Big Boar
The other day one of our young Tamworth boars (a male pig) thought he'd jump over a fence and get in with one of our older boars. Sadly the older boar, four years old, twice the size of the younger boar and with tusks, was not happy to receive an unexpected visitor.
Jul 23
Home Farm People - Catherine Pyne, Home Farm Box Scheme Manager
(Left to right: Catherine, Hannah, Ames, Emily)
My name is Catherine and I run the Organic Vegetable Box Scheme at Home Farm. We distribute about 250 boxes a week within a ten to twelve mile radius of Home Farm. People don't know what they're getting in the box so it's a surprise for them which they tell us they love!
Jul 22
Going On A Farm Walk
I do a few guided farm walks throughout the summer. Recently the Soil Association and a group which included people from different walks of life ranging from policy makers to food writers, authors and farmers joined me. I took them around the farm and we had some interesting discussions about the amount of energy used in the present food system.
Jul 11
No More Rain!
We've had a lot of rain in the last week which was needed, but now we've had enough! So far in July we've had three inches which is quite a lot for this time of year (but not last year which we prefer to forget!). Because of the rain we can't make hay which is annoying as we've still got another 60 acres to make.
Jul 9
Picnic By The Mustard Field
The other day Guy Tullberg and some members of his family and staff came and had a picnic on the edge of our mustard crop. Guy is the MD of Tracklements, the company which produces the Duchy Originals Wholegrain Mustard. Not surprisingly, they brought along a selection of their delicious mustards to accompany the cold snacks. It was rather nice to have a picnic all together and it's always interesting to taste some of Guy's new mustards. Tracklements are always coming up with some great tastes and it's nice as a farmer to see the end product.
Jul 7
Off To Mow The Meadow
Although we're not logging yet we are starting to get our two horses, Emperor and Duke, fit enough to mow. We're doing a little bit of mowing with them a few times a week to build their strength up.
