Horner Farm is ran by Holly Purdey and her husband Mark, Holly who worked for a period in land management with the National Trust, eventually succeeded in running the tenancy of Horner Farm. The livestock consists of cattle, sheep, goats and laying hens.
Horner Farm is run in a way of a low input and low output system, using sustainable and regenerative farming techniques the land is sequestering carbon into the soil since they have taken over using soil analysis results. Allowing grass to grow longer is one of the examples I notice during walks through the farms, one example of a benefit from this are the extra wildlife and pollinators turning up to further improve the quality of the grasses. Allowing the flowerheads to form before grazing means there is a great source for pollinators such as bees to use.
Evidence of the work and the land changing at Horner to a better more sustainable state which is clear over the farm. Even smaller little changes are present over time, a pair of mallards congregate at the streams, Herons fish in the ponds. In the evening, owls hoot and bats dart across the farmyard.
Holly has recently pro-actively undertaken trials to vaccinate the badgers on Horner Farm against TB as an alternative method to culling to reduce TB spread. Using new methods such as this are great alternative to keeping a TB-Free healthy herd of cows while holding the diverse species on the land.
We can be confident of Hollys approach to farming which encourages all wildlife to live alongside her 100% grass fed lambs, goats and cattle both working harmoniously with each other unlocking the best use of a low input-low output system.
