No. 11 - FOXCOTTE FARM

The untidy farmyard to your left is called Foxcotte Farm and is now the main 'working' yard for Burwash Manor Farm. The centre of our farming activities has been moved to Foxcotte because it is more centrally placed and can be accessed from all the land without going through Barton. Burwash Manor Farm, itself, can only be reached along School Lane, a narrow and very busy lane, wholly unsuited to modern farm machinery.

The large barn in the middle of the yard is where our Beef Shorthorn Suckler herd spend their winter. It also houses most of our machinery.

Grain Storage

The round, tin silos behind the barn contain some of our grain (wheat, oats and barley) harvest.

Muck Heap

As organic farmers, unable to use artificial fertilizers, muck is one of the three ways in which we can fertilize our crops (the other two are by our grazing cattle and by growing nitrogen fixing leguminous crops – clover etc). We spread the muck over an area of land after harvest and then plough it into the soil, ready for the next crop, usually wheat.

Silage

During the summer, when grass growth is at its maximum, we mow some of our red clover/grass leys, to feed to our cattle (and pigs) during the winter. After mowing we allow the grass to wilt for a day, before baling it up into large round bales. These bales are then wrapped in heavy duty cling film, to keep the air out of them. Provided air is kept out (anaerobic) the grass heats and ferments to form lactic acid which preserves the flavour and nutritional value of the grass.

The large pale green swiss rolls stacked near the barn are some of our round bale silage ready for our cattle to eat during the winter.