 |
|
|
 |
| |
 |
|
 |
We know all our farming partners personally and work together to ensure the purity and quality of our products. We are also assured that the husbandry methods employed meet the highest standards. We list two local farmers to illustrate this:
Manor Farm, Wool, Dorset, BH20 6DB -- Soil Association Licence No. G4493
Charles Hyde set up his flock at Manor Farm in 1846. Robert Hyde, the present incumbent, is fifth generation to run it. The farm covers 850 acres, which includes 200 acres of summer grazing on pastures by the river Frome. They run 500 pedigree Dorset Downs, 350 pure Friesland milking sheep plus 100 rams and most of the feed is grown on the farm.
Wool, sounds like a place with a tradition in sheep, but Wool does not refer to sheep but denotes the wetness' of the area with its springs and wells. The Cistercian Monastery nearby is recorded as having 3000 sheep in 1142, which signified enormous wealth in those days, especially as they would have been milked as well.
The Dorset Down flock is remarkable, as no female animal has been bought in since the 19th century. In October 1994, the Hyde’s bought 200 Friesland milking ewes from Margaret Smail, one of the pioneers of the renaissance in sheep dairying; in January of the following year they had their first lambing of dairy ewes at Wool.
In the intervening years they have built up and improved the milking flock and in August 2001 they achieved Soil Association certification for their milk.
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
 |
|
