By Jenni Hobbs, The Hobbs family at Barhouse Farm. I am sure time flies by quicker every year! 2018 has sped past, so much happens on our dairy farm that you never get bored. 2018 has been full of highs and lows, and one thing I always say is that whenever we look back it is good…
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Images of cows in lush, green pastures are synonymous with British milk and the seasonal grazing of dairy herds has been practiced by many traditional, family farms for generations. But, this free range farming system is now at risk of being turned into a meaningless label, defined by those who have never got dirt beneath…
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Listen to the Podcast here. The Passenger Shed at Bristol Temple Meads railway station was the venue for the first ever Bristol Coffee Festival, earlier this month and we were delighted to play a key part, as milk sponsors, along with Cotteswold Dairy. In its first year, the Bristol Coffee Festival created its own unique…
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Thanks to the wonders of social media, I discovered earlier this week that we have helped to inspire the first free range milk initiative in India. The Svasvita Naturals project has been established in Bangalore, by Siva Ramachandran. Siva explains “We are a group of people with a common mission to increase Indian small…
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We have exciting news, Vacherin the leading sustainable London catering company, will convert all their conventional milk to Pasture Promise free range milk, from 1st August. This is a fantastic coup for us as it shows that more and more people want, not just great tasting milk but, also a clear assurance that it comes…
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We are delighted to be Official Milk Sponsors of the first ever Bristol Coffee Festival, which is being held in the Passenger Shed, at Bristol Temple Meads Station, on the 7th & 8th of September. Described by the organisers as “a caffeine-fuelled celebration of the best the city has to offer”, the festival will…
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For the first time Neil and I ran a stall at the Great Yorkshire Show. It was great to be in Yorkshire as this is where we first started getting Pasture Promise assured free range milk to the market. Back in 2014, we sat around a table with farmers, Dales Dairies and Stephenson’s Dairy to…
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We are running our ‘Come Back to Milk’ event as part of World Milk Day over the coming weekend, to help people understand how we are restoring the true value of milk from traditional, pasture-based dairy herds. Over the last twelve months we have seen a lot of bad press for milk and dairy,…
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Congratulations to Free Range Dairy Network members Brian and Liz McNab-Jones, on winning Family Farming Business of the Year at last night’s Western Daily Press Food & Farming Awards. Brian and Liz produce fantastic cheese from their herd of free range cows, under their Godsell’s Cheese label and they also supply Pasture Promise free range…
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It’s National Vegetarian Week and it’s something I like to celebrate by usually trying something new. The Vegetarian Society offer some great recipes to try if you’re looking for something new or for a bit of inspiration. I’ve been vegetarian for over 25 years now and although I like to try new things, I was reminded…
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In our attempts to win badly needed recognition and value for traditional, family dairy farms, it often feels like we are bound in chains. Changing attitudes to milk is not easy, in a modern day dairy supply chain comprised of so many links, each trying to extract profit along the route from farm to fridge.…
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It’s a busy time in the coffee world right now. As London Coffee Festival closed on Sunday, so UK Coffee Week begins today. UK Coffee Week brings coffee lovers together to raise funds for the communities that grow the coffee they enjoy, whether that’s the coffee shops or their customers. 100% of money raised goes…
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I was very pleased to be quoted in an article by The Times Environment Editor, Ben Webster, on Saturday (10th March 2018), which revealed how meat and milk labels used by food producers and retailers, often hide the fact that food is produced from animals that never go outside. A key driver for me…
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Last week, as we kicked off our Coffee & Cows campaign, we met with representatives of Fairtrade UK, who brought Ketra Kyosiimire, from the Ankole Coffee Producers’ Cooperative Union (ACPCU) in Uganda, to a Free Range Dairy farm in Gloucestershire. The ACPCU now represents around 9,000 coffee growers, supplying 17 Fairtrade certified primary cooperatives across…
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On my way to where I work I decided to count the number of coffee shops in one street. There was six, a couple of the usual coffee chains but predominately it was the independents coffee shops that had the most outlets, showing that customers are looking for something new and unique, great quality coffee…
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PRESS RELEASE YouGov poll shows strong desire for Pasture Promise free range milk alongside sustainably sourced coffee beans Results from a recent YouGov poll, commissioned by Free Range Dairy Network CIC, indicates the importance of the provenance of milk in coffee, along with the coffee beans themselves. When questioned about the importance of knowing that…
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By Rob, Free Range Dairy Farmer. A couple of years ago, around the time we became Pasture Promise accredited, the farm became a host for 20 honey beehives in return for a free supply of honey. They are located in a south facing corner of the farm, which is sheltered and easily accessible for the local…
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Nothing average about Pasture Promise free range milk. Today, members of the Free Range Dairy Network are taking provenance and traceability in British milk to a new level, publishing for the first time, details of the number of days and nights that cows supplying free range milk under the Pasture Promise label TM, are grazed…
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How many cows do you see in fields these days? Well, right now probably none, as it’s winter time and most are indoors for food and shelter. But, even in the spring and summer months, the number of dairy cows going out to graze is declining. Less than half the number of dairy herds we…
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I was recently reading an article about an interesting initiative in France called “C’est qui le patron?” (Who’s the boss?). Founder of the scheme, Nicolas Cee, set up the label in the autumn of 2016, in an attempt to restore power to the consumer in deciding the value (price) of the food they buy.…
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