Foundation

Founded in 1995, Nesbitt Farms is a certified organic mixed farmimg business. Aileen and Stephen Nesbitt, the farm’s owners, have been breeding Hereford Polled cattle and British White cattle for more than 25 years, originally under the herd name “Titcomb” and since 2001 under the herd name “Cleland”.

History

Hereford Foundation females were acquired by the Nesbitts from the purchase of the Benacre Polled Hereford Herd with later additions of Lowesmoor, Votex, Fisher and Dendor females. Our British Whites originated from the Penwartha herd with other females coming from many well-established herds.

Cattle Health

We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of husbandry and animal welfare. Nesbitt Farms is a member of the Hi-Health Herdcare Cattle Health Scheme (Bio-best). All our cattle are accredited Leptospirosis free; IBR free: BVD free (vaccinating against BVD using Bovela) and Johnes Risk Level 1.

Organic farming

The basic philosophy of organic farming is simple and compelling –
“nature knows best”.

In other words organic farmers follow nature in applying natural methods of maintaining soil and animal health and avoiding chemical interventions which interfere with the natural process.

This translates into the following fundamental principles which are required for organic farming.

The land is farmed on a ‘mixed’ basis. This means introducing diversity of crop species and rotating crops in a periodic cycle, thereby avoiding any form of monoculture (which does not allow the soil to regenerate naturally without chemical intervention and destroys fertility).

The importance of Livestock

Livestock produce natural fertiliser and apply the beneficial effects of grazing to grassland, leading to diversity of plant stock and new growth.

Farming ‘extensively’ not ‘intensively’.

This encourages natural balance in the countryside by allowing habitat regeneration, respecting wildlife and protecting the environment.

These principles are responsible for dictating virtually everything carried out on the farm and driving most of the choices made as farmers.

The principles of organic farming are, broadly speaking, the principles on which agriculture relied for thousands of years before the invention of pesticides and the production of nitrogen fertiliser by the petro-chemical industry.

In this sense, organic farming is simply ‘traditional’ farming, or returning to the tried and tested methods of the past.