From Cape Town to South Ormsby: Darren’s Story

“I’m very keen on the Lincolnshire Wolds. The surroundings are stunning and I like the whole set-up at South Ormsby: regenerative farming without things like hormones and antibiotics plus a respect for heritage. Winter here will be an experience, though. Cape Town gets down to 6C-7C for a day or two every year, but winter temperatures are more like 15C. The latitude is lower too so we don’t get very short winter days.

“In South Africa, customers don’t care as much where their meat comes from. There’s a niche market for a more ethical farming model but it’s a bit behind the UK. Some cattle farms in SA use small pens and force the pace with grain. When I hear folks who don’t get it and think the regenerative approach won’t work, I think like a mountaineer: it can be done!

“I’m adjusting to some big cultural differences. The first four weeks were crazy hectic but I love British banter, backchat and humour, even though I’m still learning the slang and the Lincolnshire accent.

“I’ve also had to get my head around the cattle passport system. In SA, we branded cattle, whereas here each has an individual tag. Tidying up the system turned out to be a good learning opportunity, forcing me to understand it all.

“In SA, we worked towards crossing our Angus cattle with a neighbour’s full-blown, 100% Wagyu. We got up to F2 with his bull, not as pure but getting there. Like Lincoln Reds, Angus and Wagyu have collagen marbling, adding value and taste. This was a great selling point for niche restaurants and individuals meaning we could charge a better price and fund our regenerative model. All our cattle were 100% grass-fed without being fattened up with grain. They took up to four years to mature rather than two but money was saved on grain and labour.

“It was similar to what’s going on here so I brought some useful insights. I’m currently working hard on learning and planning. The herd stays outdoors all-year round now. They used to be housed at Keal Yard in the colder months, but last winter most remained outdoors. It was a success and we’re taking lessons from it. We’re changing the calving system as we don’t want calves to be born in the coldest months. We have a better idea about required quantities of sileage and standing hay.

“I’ve got all sorts of dates and statistics for planning. Winter forage crops need to be planned at least a year in advance. I have to factor in things like cattle numbers and predicted ages and calorie requirements, then tell Paul how much sileage we’ll need. We only feed the Reds grass or preserved grass grown here with no fertilisers or insecticides.

“Planning all this and rotating the Reds through their grazing paddocks is like a game of chess. I’m always thinking about where to put the Reds next. What if it’s a hot, dry June? Whenever it rains, I watch the grass, urging it to grow. When there’s green grass, I’m happy. The weather’s so erratic that careful planning is needed. I’m looking into tapping into the Estate spring and irrigating grass when required. Back in Cape Town, we were getting crazy rain and we just weren’t used to it. Water is looking like a big challenge all-round.

“The herd currently has 412 head of cattle including calves and breeding cows. This is a romantic month as we’re putting bulls to cows. The first thing is to work out their lineage to protect the integrity of the breed. Pedigree really matters and we maintain detailed records of sires and dams.

“When the bulls initially met the cows, they weren’t keen. They hadn’t seen females for eight months and didn’t seem to know what to do. They figured it out quickly though and this breeding season looks promising. Our newest bull, Arthur (we name them alphabetically and we’ve recently gone back to the top), is in his debut season so we’ve only given him 25 cows to learn.

“It’s all looking very promising and I’ll keep you all posted as we roll towards winter out on the land.”

If you’ve enjoyed this chat with Darren and would like to find out a little more about the charismatic, native-breed Lincoln Red, click HERE. For more on our regenerative and biodiverse farming model, click HERE.

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* Everest image via Wiki CC.