Welcome to our website! Julie, Ed & Ted farm in Ilsington, Devon at the foot of Haytor. We farm our animals to the highest welfare standards which gives them a wonderful life on route to producing delicious tasting food. We keep a variety of animals at the farm, of which you will see some of our Belted Galloway cows in the summer grazing the moors at Haytor! The remaining cows, sheep, chickens and pigs all reside on our farm just a short walk down from the moors edge. We pride ourselves on producing flavoursome, fully traceable products which can be purchased direct from the farm covering minimum food miles!
Down on the Farm
Our beef herd
Our long established beef herd is made up of a few different breeds which have been specifically chosen for their desired traits that make them the most suitable to our farm. The iconic Belted Galloway makes up approximately 1/3 of the herd, they spend typically 5-6 months of the summer grazing the common of Haytor. They come home for the winter months to calve and enjoy living outdoors with a very thick coat that they grow. Another 1/3 of the herd is made up of pedigree Aberdeen Angus cows, we keep both Red and Black which we have shown in the past with success. The herd was established officially in 2012 and has been kept to a limited number of cows to ensure only the best are kept for breeding. The remaining 1/3 of the herd are made up of mostly Aberdeen Angus cross cows which many were born on the farm to our original cows. We use an Angus bull on most of them with a Hereford now being used on some of our homebred heifers. The Belted Galloways are either crossed with an Angus or bred back to a Beltie. All three breeds are known for there excellent eating quality and are mostly grass fed to ensure only the best beef is sold.
Our Sheep flock
Our sheep flock were established in 2014 with the purchase of 30 Suffolk cross Cheviot ewes, we now have two flocks totaling over 300 breeding ewes.....With further plans for extending! The two flocks are made up of approximately 200 Suffolk cross Cheviot mule ewes who lamb first in January every year. They give us our biggest percentage of lambs that we sell, with lambs being finished off grass. The second (my favourite!) flock our the pedigree flock of North Country Cheviots established in 2016 with 50 ewes purchased locally from the Brimley flock that belongs to Sam Pedrick. We have grown this flock to over a 100 now putting the best back to a pedigree ram and the remaining ewes to a Blue Faced Leicester to produce Cheviot Mules. The females from this flock are kept back for breeding with a few of the best male lambs sold on for breeding the remaining wether lambs (castrated male) are kept and finished during the autumn into the winter for either Dartmoor Farmers or private customers. We show our pedigree Cheviots at many of the local shows and even venture to wales to the Royal Welsh show! We have collected many prizes and it gives Julie an annual holiday!
Ted’s Chicken Flock
Ted’s chicken flock was established in April 2020 when a friend asked if we could regularly supply him with eggs. So we sourced some hens and decided that we would set it up with Ted in mind as his little enterprise which when he’s a little bigger he can collect the eggs to earn his pocket money! We have a lovely collection of hens who enjoy a large paddock surrounded by electric fence to keep them safe from Mr Fox. We have eggs available in our honesty shed a the end of our drive.
Ted’s Ready to Roast Chickens flock
We continued with our chicken theme with Ted and decided to make use of our big sheep barn when we aren’t lambing by rearing our own meat chickens. The first two batches we did as whole chickens literally ready to put in the oven, but are now doing a mixture of whole and portioned chicken. So you can purchase breast fillets, thighs, drums and wings, great for BBQ season! All packed ready for the freezer.
The Pig Herd
The pig herd is a new enterprise to the farm, we had a large shed that was empty and came across a fellow farmer who was looking for a B&B style contract for his finishing pigs. We got chatting and decided to give it a go! The shed is split in to three pens with an area at the front of each pen for eating and drinking and the rest of the pen is full of lovely straw for the pigs to play, root and sleep in. Our pigs are finished and cared for to a very high standard inspected regularly by Red Tractor. The majority of the pigs go off to supply top quality pork elsewhere but we are able to select some to keep back and are either made into proper butchers sausages or cut and packed for the freezer in joints,chops etc. 1/2 a pig needs to be pre ordered as do the sausages. The sausages come in three flavours, plain, black pepper or apple in 5kg bags. Usually every 8 weeks they are ready so it can be pre ordered! Our local The Carpenters Arms have the Black Pepper sausages on their breakfast menu!
The Honesty Shed
At the end of our drive we have set up our honesty shed! It contains some of Ted’s amazing Free Range Eggs and bags of locally grown potatoes. The potatoes are grown by Teds Grandma and Grandad Keith & Hilary Harvey just across the valley at Beechleigh Farm, Bovey Tracey. We keep 12.5kg bags in stock and there are usually several varieties available, we can get 25kg bags from them if required with prior notice. There is a formula tin to leave the money in and rely on everyone being honest 😊
Our right hand maid!
When we need extra help on the farm for various jobs like shearing, lambing, showing. TB testing.... the list goes on! We call upon our very trusted and able Emma! Emma is self employed and specializes in looking after your pets and farm whilst your away, she has many years experience with a variety of animals. She spends many months lambing for different farms across the country! She has a Facebook page called Emma's Farm Help and Pet sitting Service so be sure to look her up if your thinking of going away or need an extra pair of hands!
Straw Pellet Bedding
In September 2020 we became stockists of Concorde straw pellets, we had been using them for the horses and chickens bed with great success. We decided that it we became stockists we could share with our customers the great product!
Contact
Please drop us a message with any questions and we will endeavour to answer it! Enquiries welcome about our produce which when available are all collectable from us here on the farm 😊
