November 2012

When the clocks change and Halloween approaches the onset of winter is looming. Looking back, there hasn’t really been a summer this year, but the wet weather seems to have contributed to the exceptional autumn colours on our deciduous trees.

It is an ill wind, that blaws naebody guid!

It certainly has been a challenging and frustrating time on the farm, particularly trying to make silage, hay etc. Our land at Kilnford Nature Trail has become so wet that we have been forced to move the Belties and the Blackface sheep back to our hill for winter. I attach a photo of the cows and calves getting settled in to their winter quarters. On the hill they can graze on lots of long grass and have plenty of places to shelter. This is one of the magical ingredients of our quality beef.

There are lots of bits to the process of producing good beef but slowly growing the animals on a grass based diet is kind to the environment, great for animal welfare, and contributes to the taste and tenderness of our Galloway beef. For those of you who would like more information about the other bits of the process please pick up a “Meat Story” leaflet at Kilnford or ask our butchers or, failing that, e-mail jock@kilnford.co.uk I passionately believe we have a product that can’t be beaten. I get lots of pleasure from being responsible for the process all the way through to the customer.

Every week in life we must have at least 2 cattle, 6-8 sheep, and 6 pigs prepared to perfection to leave the farm for the shop. I personally ensure the quality on the farm, inspect carcasses as they return from the abattoir, discuss quality with the butchers and look forward to feedback from our customers. If it is not the very best I need to know why and make sure we achieve it. Please give us your feed-back.

I hope you enjoy Kilnford.

Jock