The sun shone and the cows looked happy and content in the fields, if a little curious as we got the barn ready and fired up the tea urn. At 11am people started arriving from all over Yorkshire and Lancashire and soon we had quite a big crowd trying free range milk from Stephenson’s Dairy…
When we think of our countryside we always think of cows in fields. Cows have been part and parcel of our lives since we were children but they go back much further than that. They occupy a unique role in our history and have been domesticated since at least the early Neolithic age. Early Neolithic populations who domesticated cattle as well…
It was a gorgeous day and we had a great turn out. Neil, with help from farm dog Sonny, was there to sign people in and give them a name badge. We had about fifty people attend on the day, all catered for by Jenni, the farmer’s wife who put on a fantastic buffet with…
One year on for Stephenson’s Dairy and Free Range Dairy … I was at Cup North, part of Spin Manchester, this weekend helping Chris of Stephenson’s Dairy with his milk stand. Chris was also providing all the Free Range milk for the coffee roasters J Atkinson & Co. Ltd, Casa Expresso and Ancoats Coffee Co,…
See the latest film from Free Range Dairy Network and meet the cows and farmers that supply the milk under the Pasture Promise label.
As the big question looms over whether we stay or leave the EU, we’re hearing about immigration, the NHS and cost to UK households but just as important but not getting the column inches in the media is food and farming. Understandably people are concerned about housing, education, jobs and health but for real unrest…
In the UK we’ve got used to having what seems like a limitless choice when it comes to our food purchases. In the supermarkets chiller section, we see row upon row of milk that’s standard, organic, semi, skimmed and whole fat. We buy 80% of our milk in one of the main major supermarkets and…
I went to a really interesting seminar this week organised by Food Thinkers Collaboration about Ecofeminism with Professor Mary Mellor of Northumbria University and renowned food investigative journalist Shelia Dillon. Ecofeminism is a word if I’m honest I’ve never come across before but I found a lot of what was discussed made sense in relation…
A new report released by ‘The Food Foundation’ this month called ‘FORCE-FED: Does the food system constrict healthy choices for typical British families?’ takes a closer look at what a typical British family eats and what influences their food choices. The report looked at national data sets, primary data collection, secondary sources alongside interviews to…
In an article in the Independent (Nov 23rd 2015), about the rise of mega dairies advocates of industrial scale dairy farming suggested that the development of such facilities is essential to make milk production economically viable. However, this is something Free Range Dairy would challenge, as would Prof John E Ikerd quoted in the same article. Prof…
“We need to update our worldview: we are no longer a small world on a big planet. We are now a big world on a small planet.” I thought that sentence by Johan Rockström a professor in environmental science at Stockholm University and executive director of Stockholm Resilience Centre really captures the problems we are…
Cup North, a major coffee festival outside of London will be the first coffee festival to use Free Range Milk across the event. The milk bearing the Free Range Dairy Pasture Promise label will be supplied by Stephenson’s Food & Dairy from Morecambe in Lancashire. Manchester is seeing a huge rise in coffee culture and whilst people enjoy choosing…
I was very grateful to be given the opportunity recently to give a presentation about intensive farming and Free Range Dairy in Pembrokeshire, a very beautiful part of Wales. On their doorstep is the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the only coastal national park of its kind in the United Kingdom and one of three national…
After weeks of coverage in the media things have gone quiet for dairy farmers. It doesn’t mean the problem has been resolved just that other stories have moved to eclipse the current crisis. Free Range Dairy is still getting calls from desperate farmers looking for a home for their milk. Out of these some are…
Free Range Dairy is launching an action today to gather support for pasture based dairy farmers in the UK, especially our more traditional pasture based dairy farmers. We have been running a Pasture Promise pledge for farmers for many years but now we want everyone to show their support for clearer labelling on their milk, so…
Out of the dairy crisis comes a good news story for farmers, cows and consumers. The Free Range Dairy Pasture Promise label will make it easier for consumers to make an informed choice when buying their daily pint of milk and support farmers by paying a fair price for keeping their cows in fields. Persistent…
Today is a special day for Free Range Dairy Network as we officially launch the Pasture Promise label. People might try to dismiss Free Range Dairy as small fry or a niche but by doing so they are missing an important point. People are making ethical food buying decisions everyday based on a variety of…
Free Range Dairy has three core principles A fair price for farmers Freedom for cows to graze for six months Affordable, healthy milk for consumers What is also important for Free Range Dairy Network is to match local farmers to local markets and their communities. People have said they want to pay more for their…
As we look forward to another hopefully sunny Bank Holiday weekend it reminds me of the last one I spent visiting Margam Country Park in Wales. I was pleasantly surprised to see a formerly considered extinct breed called Glamorgan Cattle with two new calves. It was thought that the Glamorgan breed had died out in Britain…
As you might have seen from a recent press release in Scotland myself and fellow Director Neil Darwent from Free Range Dairy Network where invited to meet with all the dairy farmers on the Island of Bute. It might only be 35mins on the ferry from the mainland but that short journey takes you to…