Our Animals enjoy the highest welfare standards. Pigs thrive on the grass covered sandy soil on our farm while sheep and beef cattle graze the beautiful environmentally sensitive meadows of Swannington Beck, the cleanest tributary of the River Wensum.
Sows: We have six hundred free range Landrace cross Duroc sows. The sows live in arks on grass covered light land. Piglets are grown on in outdoor, straw based tents with adlib food, water and plenty of fresh air. They are fed on a cereal based diet with no growth promoters or antibiotics.
Sheep: The four hundred mules are crossed with Texel, Charolais and Suffolk rams and graze on the finest meadows on the Wensum Valley. We Lamb at the beginning of April.
Beef: Cattle come from the Child family at Hevingham. Their suckler herd spends the summer grazing SSSI marshes around the Norfolk Broads, mostly at South Walsham. They are over wintered in large straw barns where they are fed on stock feed vegetables and cereals. The carcasses are then hung for 21-28 days to maximise the natural tenderness and flavour.
Chickens: Barn reared Norfolk chicken or free range to order. Free range Norfolk turkeys and geese from Steve Childerhouse and ducks from Gressingham.
Farm & Environment Management
Here at Woodlands Farm we are committed to doing everything we can to make our environment as green and efficient as possible. We use a range of methods to maintain our land which include
• The rotation of crop and the use of cover crops to protect and allow land to regenerate during the harsh winter months.
• We design our farrowing fields so one acre of land will house 8 sows
• The use of water tanks and individual drinkers to minimise water waste
• Silt traps are in place on all of our hilly fields, this stops unwanted minerals entering water systems and instead are spread across our land and put back into the soil
• A range of wild flowers are planted on unusable land as well as bee hives
• A woodland management programme is in place to protect and allow the surrounding forestry to grow with minimal interference
• Our sheep graze on fields with low forest density and are rotated frequently to support regeneration of fields
Butchery & Green Energy
Our butchery is powered by the onsite solar farm, this 100KW System provides enough power to run all butchery operations and put some back into the grid, furthermore a heat reclaim system is used for all hot water, this is taken from the water used in the refrigeration units which fills the hot water tanks to then supply hot water for all sinks and hand washing areas on site. All butchery waste is recycled and collected weekly and any food/meat waste is recycled in an on site incinerator. All animals are slaughtered at the local abattoir, just 3 miles away.
Swannington Farm to Fork,
Woodlands Farm,
Church Lane,
Swannington
Norwich,
Norfolk
NR9 5NN
