ABOUT US
Haresfield Farm Wiltshire
Back in 2011 when we started to sell our eggs to wholesalers and retailers direct, our hopes for the future included building on organic principles and introducing cows and sheep to the farm. We also wanted to reduce our carbon footprint by using solar energy and look at new ways to use any excess eggs such as mayonnaise production…
With this focus, we now have a small flock of Dorset down sheep and our herd of Sussex cattle has grown from the purchase of 8 suckler cows and calves to a herd of 60 cattle. As we have taken on more ground to meet demand for our eggs, we have needed many more acres and as a result, we have been able to increase cow numbers to help us manage the land better and help keep the grass in check as the hens do make the ground so fertile whilst ranging all over it and fertilising it as they go! The only issue with taking on more cows is that we have needed more shed space for them and machinery so we have been slowly upgrading to accommodate our friendly lawn mowers!
This has included taking on some neighbouring land with buildings and we have been renovating some of the old barns for holiday letting purposes so people can stay on the farm and meet the hens, cows and sheep as well as explore the Cotswolds and surrounding areas where we live. Our focus here to provide a relaxing, comfortable retreat with a leaning towards eco-friendly technology so we use air source heat pumps for heating and hot water as well as mechanical heat recovery to bring constant fresh air into the building for greater comfort.
Lastly, we have taken on a mayonnaise business in 2019! Now we can use our eggs to make fantastic mayonnaise and we are able to distribute plain, garlic and chilli flavours from our purpose built farm kitchen.
Hopes for the future now include building on some agroforestry and permaculture principles to include more natural shelter for the hens but maintaining pastures for the hens and cows as we believe that grass is essential for the great tasting eggs that we supply.
We will continue to strive to reduce our energy requirements and use renewables and new technology where possible. I suspect that we will be using electric vehicles in the near future too. Hopefully we will be able to steer our holiday let business more down the eco-village pathway too. Lastly, we hope to build on our new wholefoods business and introduce more egg based products to the kitchen to make full use of our eggs.
Lastly, we are working on ways to make our yolks a deeper colour through feeding the hens different combination of natural feeds – but I do love our rich yellow yolks!
To enhance bird welfare, we aim to give the hens as many things to do as possible on the farm with us – this includes offering plenty of straw and shavings for the hens to scratch around in and pick at and whilst on the range we make shelters to encourage the birds to range at all times of the day. In the summer, we plant wild bird seed mixes to include phacelia, forage rape, maize and sunflower as well as forage rye to give natural shade and encourage insects and bees. We also encourage the hens to eat as much greenery and fibre as possible, so if they aren’t chomping on the grass/clover leys outside, the hens can peck at organic alfalfa bales inside their coops which all helps to give a rich yolk colour.
