Dairy

Although the Cumber family have farmed dairy cows for generations, it was only in 2001 that we started to produce 100% organic milk, following a two year conversion period at Manor Farm. One reason behind changing to organic production was that the levels paid to farmers for organic milk per litre was to be considerably higher than for conventional milk, to take account of the lower yields obtainable and the strict guidelines that must be adhered to within an organic system.

We were also keen to farm in a more environmentally sustainable fashion and felt that the increasing organic market would mean that this could be achieved profitably. Unfortunately as many other farmers chose to convert at a similar time because of the grants available, it has taken until the present day to be paid at the levels we were expecting in 2001.

In our organic dairy system our Brown Swiss cows are not fed or managed in such a way to push them beyond normal capacity; they have permanent access to either covered straw yards, outside loafing areas or pasture and choose when to be milked by our voluntary (robotic) milking machine. They are fed an entirely organic diet consisting of mainly grass and silage. Please see our promotional video for more information. The milk is mainly sold to the Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative (OMSCO) however some of our milk is made into ice cream by a local firm, G & D's in Oxford (http://www.gdcafe.com) and is available in various flavours from our shop.