12 GAZEGILL ORGANICS AUG / SEP 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk
Commercial Refrigeration & Cold Store Specialists, Installation & Maintenance
12 GAZEGILL ORGANICS AUG / SEP 2018 • farmers-mart. co. uk
FARM ANIMAL VETERINARY SERVICES
Specialist Farm Vets 24 Hours A Day 7 Days A Week Flock And Herd Planning
In House Laboratory Faciilities Bull & Ram Fertility Testing
AMTRA Qualified Pharmacy Staff Regular Client Meetings
01729 823538 www. daleheadvetgroup. co. uk
Station Road. Settle. BD24 9AA Main Street. Bentham. LA2 7LE Gisburn Auction Mart. BB7 4ES
WHERE TRADITIONAL FARMING MEETS THE FUTURE
Commercial Refrigeration & Cold Store Specialists, Installation & Maintenance
CO2 Refrigerant- The Natural Choice
Main Agents for Fabdec Dari – Kool & Packo Cooling systems in Lancashire & South Cumbria
DX & Ice Bank Tanks, Ice Builders, Heat Recovery, Enery Efficient Systems
THE 250-acre Lower Gazegill Farm in Lancashire’ s Ribble Valley combines a long history in the same family with a forward-thinking approach to innovation, conservation and education.
The Robinson family have owned Lower Gazegill for 500 years and championed organic farming long before it became‘ fashionable’. The current custodians, Emma Robinson and husband Ian O’ Reilly, live there with their children Niamh, Isabel and Oliver.
The couple’ s view is that nature is never wrong and that happy, healthy animals make better, more flavoursome food, that rare and traditional breeds are better suited to the organic system, and that growing them slowly ensures longevity. But while farming in a sustainable, nature-led way, their vision is firmly on the future, with raw milk and rose veal the latest innovations. Most products are sold directly to consumers all over the country, as Emma and Ian have a farm shop and a thriving e-commerce site.
ORGANIC ETHOS
“ My father was passionate about his hay meadows, rare breeds and wildlife,” Emma explains.“ The farm is all permanent pasture and it’ s been that way for centuries, the last evidence of ploughing being a small area of medieval ridge-and-furrow land.”
“ Our ethos is simple,” Ian adds.“ Having been handed 500 years of carefully farmed land, our intention is to pass it on to our children in as good an order as it came to us. Our aim is simply to put more in than we take out through low-intensity farming, because in the long-term the animals and soils are better for it.
“ Farming in a sensitive manner means we only cut meadows for hay once everything has gone to seed and the birds have left their email: sales @ ddcooling. co. uk