Norfolk farmer aims to boost pasture-fed livestock numbers

Rebecca Mayhew, of Old Hall Farm in Woodton near Bungay, has been appointed as Pasture for Life's new regional facilitator.

The national organisation claims grazing animals on 100pc pasture brings positive impacts for the environment, human health and animal welfare - as well as meeting a growing commercial demand.

Livestock already plays a key role in the regenerative agriculture system at Old Hall Farm, which has 160 pasture-fed beef cattle, 75 sheep, 300 chickens and milks 50 dairy cows.

While the beef cattle are grazing outside all year round, the dairy cows spend the wettest winter months in a shed where they are fed on hay and haylage made from grass, rather than arable grains or imported feed.

Mrs Mayhew said this had many benefits - and she hopes to convince more farmers to join Pasture for Life's membership across East Anglia.

Rebecca Mayhew, of Old Hall Farm in Woodton near Bungay, is the new regional facilitator for the Pasture for Life (Image: Denise Bradley)

"Ruminants - cattle, sheep and goats - are born to eat grass and pasture," she said. "They are not designed to eat grains and soya.

"It is a waste to grow wheat and barley to feed animals. We should be utilising the animal properly, and then anything we can grow as an arable crop ought to be human-grade and fed to humans instead, otherwise it is very inefficient.

"It is also important to integrate livestock into the arable system so you are getting nutrients from the livestock back onto the land.

"Everything was designed to work together in nature as part of a cycle. What we have done as humans is we have broken that cycle. We have put animals in sheds and instead of growing grass for them to eat, we have grown other crops for them to grow really quickly.

"But that whole model is based on cheap energy, and we won't have cheap energy any more. This is encouraging people to go back to natural methods of farming their animals and there are lots of benefits."

At a time of soaring agricultural inflation, she said the first benefit is the reduced cost of not having to buy extra feed. 

"It is a lot cheaper for us to grow our cattle than it is for someone else, because I am not buying anything," she said.

"The animals are literally just wandering around the farm eating grass. I might buy some hay but because the beef herd are out 365 days a year I don't have to buy them any straw.

"Most importantly, very few people think about nutrient density. You get a much more nutritious bit of beef or lamb or milk from an animal that has never had grain.

"And if we are looking at trying to defend farming to non-meat-eaters, feeding soya grown in South America is completely indefensible.

"A lot of this is about changing the mindset. When farmers are looking at their businesses for the next five to ten years, really it is the only way of producing livestock that makes sense because if you look at the cost of fertiliser, seed, sprays and everything else - why not grow something that is going to give you a greater net profit, because you have not had to buy all the other rubbish to feed the animals with?"

Pasture for Life enables farmers to certify their meat, milk and eggs to prove there is nothing other than grass and pasture used in growing their animals.

Mrs Mayhew said consumers were increasingly seeking such products - for example, she "cannot keep up with demand" for eggs from her soya-free chickens.

"It is a huge emerging market," she said. "People are becoming far more switched on to what their food has eaten.

"So if farmers can get their act together and start producing beef and dairy certified from purely pasture it opens up the market place hugely, because there is not enough to satisfy demand."