Today we’re heading to Herefordshire and Ben is speaking to Farmers Weekly’s 2023 Beef Farmer of the Year Ian Farrant who farms 600 acres of land on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border.  Beef production on the farm is part of a larger family partnership which also includes dairy and arable units. Ian is responsible for the beef however and rears and finishes around 650 dairy cross calves on a forage based system. Ian is very keen at finding efficiencies as well as making the farm as sustainable as possible in all ways for the future. With this in mind he has also diversified into hazelnut production and now grows 11 different hazelnut varieties on 6ha of steep land on the farm. He has planted clover in between the trees which provide nutritious grazing for a couple of hundred chickens and turkeys which he runs in the hazelnut orchards.

Image credit: Ian Farrant.

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About Ben and  RuralPod Media

Ben Eagle is the founder and Head of Podcasts at RuralPod Media, a specialist rural podcast production agency. He is also a freelance rural affairs and agricultural journalist. You can find out more at ruralpodmedia.co.uk or benjamineagle.co.uk

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This episode is sponsored by our primary sponsor Howden Rural Insurance.