Beef Farmer

Yet again I am in a field with my camera.

But this is a happy place for me. We find ourselves up in the lowlands of Cumbria. Turn right instead of left at the Kendal M6 junction. This area has slipped off the tourist map and is all the better for it. Every one heads for the Beatrix Potter landscape that is the West Lakes. But the other side of the M6 is just as beautiful. Not so many mountains, but more unspoilt real landscapes. This is where we found my latest farming family. They provide beef to the supermarket I was working for. We were focusing on steaks aimed at Valentines dine in meals for 2019. Yet again, and this is a continuing experience, I was struck by the dedication and incredible energy of the family. This is not a job to them it really is a life choice. Not to be too cliche, but they see their job as just borrowing their land and they feel they need to return it in better shape than when they received it.

They are also firm believers in happy cattle, means great meat, so do their upmost to make their livestock healthy and indeed happy. They are also very involved in the breeding side of beef farming and are part of a very advanced organisation studying the dna of cattle. I left wanting to stay longer, to soak up this revitalising landscape and to listen to more of the wonderful world of beef farming in a quite corner of Northern England.