Paddock Farm in Warwickshire is managed by brothers Jon and Nick Francis, who began their farming careers raising Tamworth pigs on a grassland rotation. In addition to the pigs, the farm enterprises include a herd of 100% pasture-fed Hereford cattle, a flock of super-free-range chickens, and a market garden growing no-dig vegetables. Strip orchards have also been planted this year to further diversify enterprises for the future.
Paddock Farm has a butchery based on the High Street of Lower Brailes, in Oxfordshire, where you can find a selection of their pork, beef and locally raised lamb and grab a pasty for lunch.
The farming system incorporates regenerative farming techniques which recognise soil as the most important asset and aims to regenerate soil and ecosystems while producing delicious food. Some of the farm’s key successes have been:
- Grazing Tamworth's on a grassland rotation has reduced reliance on compound feeds by up to 50%, reduced soil compaction and provided the capacity to improve soil health.
- The Francis brothers have introduced a 40 head strong herd of cattle. They are working on their calves' genetics to create a suckler herd most suitable to their land and farming system, currently a Hereford, Angus mix with a pinch a Galloway.
- Even with a wet spring and a dry start to summer 2023, Paddock Farm has maintained soil moisture by grazing light and leaving large residuals. Even after five weeks without rain the grazing platform maintained between 40 and 90 cm of grass with consistently stable soil moisture throughout covered land.
Jon and Nick Francis are members of the Exploring Livestock Emissions action group, which is facilitated by Innovation for Agriculture and funded by The Dulverton Trust. The groups activities include soil sampling on all participating farms and putting together an action plan based on their current challenges and previous successes.
