Livestock and meat                                                                                

Our farm is the home of the Yeoman herd of pedigree Berkshire pigs, the Kington flock of pedigree Welsh Mountain Badger Face sheep, the South Yeo flock of pedigree Whiteface Dartmoor sheep and the South Yeo suckler herd of pedigree Red Ruby Devon cattle.  We rear native, traditional and rare breed livestock, and in addition to the pigs, sheep and cattle we keep Aylesbury and Black Indian Runner ducks, Black Orpington large fowl chickens and rare Pilgrim geese. For six months of the year we rear a small number of Norfolk Black turkeys, and have been known to keep Boer goats.  For more information about our livestock please click on the tabs on the left.

We usually have livestock (ewe lambs, ram lambs, ducklings, chicks) for sale, and take orders for meat (lamb, hogget, mutton, pork, bacon, gammon) all year round, selling them when in season.  To ensure we make use of every part of our livestock we sell Torwen (black with white belly) and Torddu (white with black belly) fleeces and lambskins.  Please contact us for further information.

Our meat is couriered fresh in chilled polyboxes direct to your home, or can be collected.  Email us if you want to be put on our mailing list to be alerted when we have fresh meat available.

Why do we keep rare breeds, and what does it mean for an animal to be 'pedigree'?  We keep rare breeds  for a number of reasons - firstly they are beautiful and there's nothing like spending time with and observing at your animals to ensure better welfare.  Secondly, it's critical to keep the traditional breeds from extinction.  Thirdly, they thrive in natural rearing conditions, and possibly most important of all, their meat is incomparably better with far more taste and texture than the quick growing commercial breeds.  A pedigree animal is one that has been registered with the relevant breed society, and whose lineage can therefore be traced, ensuring purity of breed, enabling informed decisions for the breeding of future generations.  The Rare Breed Survival Trust say that registration "really is a vital part of saving [rare breeds] from extinction. The livestock we keep are part of a long history of farming in Britain, with genetics that can be traced back in many cases to the origin of the breed. It only takes one generation for that branch of the “family tree” to be lost, so if these animals are not registered, the available gene pool is narrowed". 

Why kill rare breeds for meat? The answers are many and various: there are always far more males than are needed and only the best specimens (of either sex) should be kept for breeding; ensuring rare breeds have a firm footing in the food chain and not purely as exhibition animals is the best way to ensure their long term survival; rare breeds become rare because they are not being eaten and therefore not being bred.  In most cases the hardy characteristics of rare breeds means that they are easier to keep in an outdoor, natural environment than those animals bred for size or other more commercial traits.