ALMOST 400 people took up the invitation to look around Peter and Sadie Bullock’s farm at Middle Weeke, Morchard Bishop on Open Farm Sunday.  Some had come up from Cornwall, others from Exmouth with lots from nearer home.

Peter and Sadie rent the farm and 70 acres from the Daw family, and taking part in the annual Open Farm Sunday was something John Daw had always wanted them to do since they started out in 2017.

A beautiful day, with enough breeze to cool the heat enabled the visitors to wander up to meet the Jersey cows or take a tractor and trailer ride through some of the fields to see their different crops.

The sand pit proved popular with the smaller visitors, so did the pygmy goats, the four day old Jersey calf and the sheep.

What intrigued and impressed many visitors was the use of astroturf for the cows to walk on between the yard and fields.

Peter explained this was better for the cows, softer for them to walk on, it helps avoid soil erosion and if it gets muddy, rain usually washes it clean again.

There was information about bee keeping, a model nanny goat that people, usually children, could have-a-go at milking.

Peter said that both he and his wife, Sadie, come from agricultural backgrounds.

“We need to show where our food comes from.

“Our cows are cared for as if they were family, we know them as individuals, they sleep on deep sand which goes onto the fields when dirty which means we use less artificial fertiliser,” said Peter.  They milk 80 cows, mainly Jerseys.

Their milk is sent to Arla whose Agricultural Manager, Simon Lea, said cows turn grass, an inedible foodstuff for humans, into something rich in nutrients for human consumption.

He covers farms in Devon, Somerset and Dorset, and at Middle Weeke was giving visitors samples of their products including B.O.B. cheese and chocolate milk.

Another person who supports farming is neighbour Hermione Perry who set up the Little Feed Company five years ago, providing an artisan-style alternative to the major feed manufacturers.

Hermione had worked for a local animal foods firm before she had the children.  Afterwards she was looking for something more flexible.  She started making the products at home, but physically could not do it all and so several products are now made for her.

She supplies local shops as well as selling on line.  For her range of nutritional solutions, Hermione only uses natural ingredients for horses, dogs and chickens.

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