Churchtown Farm new arrivals
Over the last month we have taken delivery of four Red Ruby Devon Cattle. Two only had a short journey from within the islands whilst the other two came from a farm in Cornwall. They have settled into their new home well and our first arrival, Valentina has now given birth to a very sturdy bull calf called Moo.
We are not branching in to milk production! We have invested in the cows as giant mowing (or mooowing) machines. We have quite a lot of land on the farm that is not suitable for flower growing because it is too exposed or the soil is too poor. If this land were just abandoned and left it would eventually deteriorate and become covered in a layer of scrub that is not that great for wildlife and does not support a rich and diverse flora - lots of different plants. The idea is the cows will graze their way around our least productive fields keeping the woody scrub at bay and encouraging a richer biodiversity.
We are also going to work closely with the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust (IoSWT) on a small scale trial grazing some of their land on St Martin’s for the same reasons. This means that the (IoSWT) will not have to clear so much land using mechanical means that are expensive, burn fossil fuels and don't produce as natural result as grazing hopefully will.
