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Coopers Farm

Producing Local Food for Local People in the heart of Hadlow Down

Sussex Beef
Seasonal Vegetables
Free range eggs

In accordance to organic and sustainable practices.

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BBQ steaks, fillet, t-bone, sirloin, rump, rib eye, top rump, mince, 100% Sussex beef sausages, and 4oz and 8oz beef burgers and many more cuts available.

Call today 01825 830037

Member of Soil Association Producers
Winner of CPRE Countryside Awards 2009

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Supermarkets are importing more and more food to cover the shortfall, with just 10 per cent of all the fruit and 50% of all vegetables eaten in the country are grown in Britain.

A report from the Department for Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs suggests that since 1997 orchards have declined in size by 33 per cent, while the area of land given over to fresh vegetables and fruit has fallen by 23 per cent.

Did you know in all, 170,000 acres of horticultural land has been abandoned – equivalent to nearly twice the area of the Isle of Wight – in the last decade.

Experts say they are increasingly worried Britain is facing a major food security problem.

Prof Tim Lang of City University and a senior Government food adviser, said: "We are entering troubled times. We cannot sit idly by and watch British production slide ever downwards. If in five or ten years' time there was a water crisis in Europe or Africa – and that is a real possibility – we need to be ready and that means being more self-sufficient. We need to grow more."

Britain imports 1.2 million tons more fruit and vegetables each year than it did a decade ago.

British farmers, in an attempt to compete with cheap imports, are increasingly turning to a small range of profitable crops, growing large numbers on small plots of land.

Robin Maynard, at the Soil Association, the organic body, said: "The results, especially for orchard fruit, are not just the dull diet of a few crisp, inoffensive varieties lingering longer on the supermarket shelf – but also a decline in the once prolific, buzzing variety of wild plants, birds and insects that traditional orchards were home to."

The Cox apple, for instance, is more prone to disease than the Gala – one of the reasons for its decline in popularity with farmers. The Gala has only been grown commercially in Britain since the 1980s but its annual harvest is on course to produce more than 40,000 tonnes within three years.

While some British crops are enjoying a modest revival, such as English strawberries, rhubarb and Egremont Russet apples, there are worries that this upsurge will be dented by the recession.

Supermarkets, which had been keen to champion local food, are now more interested in finding cheap supplies from overseas as they wage a fierce price war, according to Adrian Barlow, the chief executive of English Apples & Pears.

Michael Lunn owner of Coopers Farm said: "Many people will be surprised that we are importing 50 per cent more vegetables than a decade ago given the natural advantages this country enjoys and the increasing pressure on global food supplies.

"Importing huge quantities of food that we can grow ourselves locally is a waste of potential and creates unnecessary vulnerabilities."

Honey Bees to be introduced to Farm

Forget about honey, pollen and royal jelly. Just think of a world without beans, tomatoes, onions and carrots, not to mention the hundreds of other vegetables, oilseeds and fruits that are dependent upon bees for pollination. And the livestock that are dependent upon bee-pollinated forage plants, such as clover. No human activity or ingenuity could ever replace the work of bees and yet it is largely taken for granted. It is often not realized just how easy it is to help or hinder their effectiveness as crop pollinators nor how much is lost by their loss.

Whilst the thought of bees fills many people with fear because of their capacity to sting, we are only too aware of the fundamental importance of having bees on our farm as they are natural pollinators. However, they have far more uses than that as they also produce honey and beeswax. Such is their importance and value that many people choose to take up beekeeping both as a hobby and, in some cases, as a commercial venture.

To United States agriculture alone, the annual value of honey bee pollination can be counted in billions of dollars. Bees pollinate about one-sixth of the world's flowering plant species and some 400 of its agricultural plants. Poorly pollinated plants produce fewer, often misshapen, fruits and lower yields of seed with inevitable consequences upon quality, availability and price of food. One of the few farm activities that can actually increase yields, rather than simply protect existing yields from losses, is to manage bees to encourage good pollination. The destructive effects of the varroa mite (See varroa - a 'mitey' pest of bees), loss of wild bee nesting habitat, low world honey prices, and the use of pesticides are making conservation of wild bees more important than ever.

Wild bees need long-lasting, undisturbed nesting sites in sunny, relatively bare patches of ground with a diversity of nectar and pollen-rich plants nearby. The greater the variety of flowering plants, the greater the number of bee species that will be attracted. One of the major risks, to both bee and plant diversity, is their separation through increasing fragmentation of wild uncultivated areas. Without bees, many flowering plants fail to set seed and without flowering plants, there is no food for bees. Leaving field margins, ditches, roadside verges and woodland edges unsprayed with chemicals, and undisturbed, does much for bee conservation.

By definition, chemical insecticides are harmful but individual products vary greatly in their toxicity to bees. Pesticides may kill quickly or, worse, kill slowly. If not immediately killed, bees can carry the contaminated pollen back to the colony where it enters the food chain and kills many more.

Humans have been managing bees in some form or fashion for many thousands of years. Some say as far back as 8000 years.

Honey bees are fascinating creatures who socially manage their hive through a complex system of smells (pheromones), actions, and most amazingly, a symbolic dance. Honey bees are one of the few animals that have developed a symbolic language.

The Queen Bee
A queen can live for a number of years as long as she is satisfactorily laying worker eggs. Worker bees live roughly 6 weeks in the summer and up to 3 months in the winter (since they are not working). Drones can live for months at a time, but since they are not vital workers, they will be booted out in the fall ending their lives of leisure.

In overly simplistic terms, a queen's purpose is to lay eggs and to unify the colony by permeating the hive with her pheromone. Her particular scent essentially becomes the hive's identifying scent and informs all bees that all is well in the hive. She never leaves the hive other than to mate shortly after she is born, or if the hive decides to split and/or find a new home. The queen only mates once in her lifetime. When she runs out of sperm from that mating, the workers will raise a new queen and dispatch the old. Ah... the circle of life.

The Worker Bees
A worker bee's purpose is to do all jobs within and without the hive. Workers do most of the vital work in the hive at progressively different times in their lives. Shortly after birth they become maids for a time and clean the hive, then they nurse the young for a certain period of time. Later they finally join the bulk of their sisters and collect pollen and nectar (pollen to feed the babies and nectar to make honey to feed the adults). Some become guard bees; others become undertaker bees, removing the dead; etc.

The Drones
Drones essentially do nothing but eat and attempt to mate. They can't even help defend the hive since they are stinger-less. When the weather is nice enough, they fly out of the hive at around 1pm to what is called the drone congregation area and wait for a virgin queen to fly by. When she does, they will do their best to become one of the 13 to 18 drones to mate with that queen. Unfortunately for that drone, mating is fatal. But they have served their life's purpose and their genetics carry on — quite literally survival of the fittest in action. Drones and queens mate on the wing. Since drones within a hive are the sons of that hive's queen (or brothers if there is a new queen), they don't inbreed unless by accident of fate outside of the hive.

Honey bees are amazing animals who's history, though far longer than mankind's, has been intricately woven into our own history for millenia. So we welcome Honey bees back to Coopers Farm. There will be 3 hives which will produce local honey for the farm. So, the next time you see a honey bee on a flower in Hadlow Down, stop for a moment to ponder and appreciate this beautiful and amazing little creature as there is a good chance its from our farm.

First Calves born at Coopers Farm

Strong maternal characteristics and excellent temperaments have been highlighted during the first calvings of the Michael and Melissa Lunn’s pedigree Sussex herd.
The birth of the first calves is another milestone for the project at Coopers Farm, Hadlow Down, East Sussex, which was established in May 2008.

Three Sussex bull calves and one heifer have now calved easily, pleasing farmer Michael Lunn who is in charge of the herd. Next year we will be calving 9 heifers.

"The Sussex heifers have been extremely easy to manage. Thankfully, all the heifers had no help in calving and the majority have all had quiet temperaments," he said.
We nearly lost one calf after finding it one morning in the water trough, but with quick actions and rub down with straw the calf was fine. Each calf is really strong, and it’s a job to catch them. They will be turned out onto the grass at the end of April.



As the project develops at Coopers Farm, it is intended that some locally produced beef will be available for local people to purchase, along with other produce.
The heifers' gestation length average was within the standard bovine 290 days, ranging from 282 to 290 days.

Temperament of the heifers has been excellent with all but two being given top temperament scores. These first two heifers which were the first to calve were separated from the rest of the herd so that Mum and calf could develop a good bond.

The heifers maintained their condition during gestation with their scores ranging from 3.5 to 3.75. From housing in October, they were fed organic hay. After calving the heifers have all began bulling again and will be put to a Bull in the next few weeks.

Restoration of a historic landscape

The landscape of Coopers Farm, located in the heart of the Sussex High Weald is essentially medieval: this can be said of few other places in the country. Eight thousand years ago, the High Weald was an untamed wilderness: mainly wooded but with grassland and heathland clearings. These were kept open by the grazing action of large herbivores such as auroch (the ancestor of modern cattle) tarpan (the ancestor of modern horse) and deer.

Over the centuries, the High Weald became an important source of raw materials for the iron, brickmaking and forestry industries - all of which have left their mark on the High Weald AONB landscape. Early farmers use to graze their pigs in local woodlands (eg. Waste Wood in Hadlow Down) (pannage circa 1086) year after year.

These isolated woodland pastures were called dens. They can still be identified on historic maps and are the key to understanding how the High Weald first became colonized by human settlers - and why it has such a distinctive, dispersed pattern of settlement today.

The isolated, scattered nature of the original dens developed into a pattern of small, individual farmsteads dotted across the countryside: this pattern of settlement is characteristic of the High Weald today. Coopers Farm used to form part of this isolated farming landscape.

When the dens became settlements in their own right, the roughly north-south routes originally made by pigs hurrying to their acorn feasts remained - and can be seen today in the pattern of our lanes, bridleways and footpaths. The routes are often deeply sunken. This is due to the action of trotters, hooves and feet wearing the soft ground away over many centuries of use. School Lane was one of these routes, with Five Chimneys Lane connecting with it.

As permanent farmsteads replaced seasonal dens, some of the uncultivated scrub, wood and heath came into agricultural use. By the 14th century the High Weald had become a landscape of woods, healthy commons, and small fields. This is very characteristic to the original historic landscape at Coopers Farm.

As pannage ceased, grazing animals (such as the Sussex cattle) ensured that livestock continued to play a key role in the shaping the landscape of the High Weald. The rearing of livestock was (and still is) one of the main uses of the land.

Grazing played an important part in the creation of the High Weald's character and still plays an important part in maintaining its pastoral landscape today. This supports the High Weald AONB strategy.

With 76 per cent of Britain’s land surface occupied by agriculture, and 65 per cent of that comprising grassland (Brockman 1988), the importance of livestock farming for conserving grassland as a landscape feature remains paramount. Many conservation managers today rely on commercial farmers to implement the required grazing regimes on their nature reserves whilst some farmers are directly responsible for managing their own SSSIs (such sheep grazing at Stocklands Farm in Hadlow Down) or other biologically important grasslands.

Herd free of TB after routine test

Our Sussex herd has recently been tested for bTB (Bovine tuberculosis)and has been cleared of any traces of the disease.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is an infectious disease that is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium bovis. The number of cattle identified as bTB positive has increased dramatically in the UK over the past 15 years. The disease is now a significant problem for a large number of livestock producers in Britain, particularly in south-west England and south and west Wales.

The root causes and continued incidence of bTB are complex - it is the Soil Association's view that no single factor, whether culling badgers or controlling cattle movements, could be the complete answer to tackling bTB. The polarisation of the debate on whether or not to cull badgers has diverted vital effort and resources from investigating other factors. Defra must redirect resources into approaches for managing the disease, which address the underlying causes of its increased occurrence, and investigate potential practical measures for reducing livestock susceptibility. Increased support should also be made available for affected farmers - given the economic and psychological impacts on farmers who have reactor herds can be devastating.

Peter Melchett, policy director said: "The Soil Association is clear that reducing the susceptibility of cattle to infection is vital. Healthy, stress-free animals are less likely to be infected, and there is some evidence that suggests trace element deficiencies caused by depleted soils may induce a susceptibility to TB. Official attitudes have tended towards attempts to eradicate disease, but we consider such approaches are not sustainable, practically, economically and politically in the long-term. A new emphasis should be on creating ‘positive health’ within livestock. Nevertheless, we accept that strict measures should remain in order to contain the further spread of the disease."

The root causes and continued incidence of bTB are complex - no single factor, whether culling badgers or controlling cattle movements, could be the complete answer.

In June 2007, ahead of the publication of the ISG report, the Soil Association brought together a group of organic farmers (including those affected by bTB), vets, agronomists, dairy industry representatives and Soil Association staff to review the organisation’s policy on tackling bovine TB and to consider constructive, practical ways forward.

That meeting found agreement on some common principles and urgent actions for government:

Government must urgently move beyond polarised debate to investigate wider causes and possible solutions
The polarisation of the debate on whether or not to cull badgers has diverted vital effort and resources from investigating other factors - estimates are that £1000 has been spent for every badger killed.

Defra must redirect resources into other approaches for managing the disease, which address the underlying causes of its increased occurrence, and investigate potential practical measures for reducing livestock susceptibility.

Increased support should also be made available for affected farmers - given the economic and psychological impacts on farmers who have reactor herds can be devastating.

Official policy must shift from ‘eradicating’ disease to building positive health
Official attitudes to animal health and management of livestock diseases tend towards eradication of target diseases from the environment (‘stamping out’) or to achieving ‘biosecure’ conditions, in which it is attempted to prevent all exposure of livestock to potential pathogens.

Such approaches are not sustainable practically, economically or politically. A radical rethinking is required in official thinking with a new emphasis on creating ‘positive health’ in livestock. Nevertheless, we accept that strict measures should remain in place to contain the further spread of the disease.

Investigate why some farmers appear to have ‘beaten bTB’ through practical management strategies
Trace element deficiencies, especially of selenium, have been linked to the incidence of diseases, including bTB. A significant body of farmers, organic and non-organic, have ‘remineralised’ their soils using trace elements, with apparent success in reducing susceptibility to or breaking the cycle of bTB infection.

It is common knowledge that maize, widely fed to cattle, is low in selenium and other trace minerals. Many farmers supplement their cattle to balance these deficiencies. Research should be conducted into investigating any links with the increased growing of maize as fodder and the spread and incidence of bovine TB in both cattle and badgers (which feed on maize cobs where they can).

Some farmers, with veterinary advice, have treated both their cattle and the badgers present on their farms with mineral supplements. The focus on badger culling to control bTB has polarised the farming community and wildlife conservation bodies. This approach offers opportunities for constructive collaboration - for example in distributing such mineral supplements around badger setts.

The above practical approaches, potentially available to all livestock farmers, have been largely ignored by officials, despite achieving apparently beneficial and sustained results.

Investigate why some regions remain bTB-free
There are unexplained anomalies across the UK in the presence and absence of bTB ‘hotspots’ – for example, the Cheshire Plain, a major dairying area has not been subject to widespread bTB outbreaks. Research should be directed at identifying what factors are different there to other dairying areas affected by bTB.

Wider husbandry issues
TB in cattle or badgers, as in humans tends (but not exclusively) to affect stressed animals with suppressed immune systems – breed type, husbandry practices, housing and diet are factors that merit more research as to susceptibility and resistance.

The trend towards bigger dairy herds composed of cattle breeds developed for increased milk-yield above all else is acknowledged by some vets to be a possible factor in susceptibility to outbreaks. We have heard of some very large units, where herds of up to 1000 cattle are regularly moved and spread between over a dozen different farms during their lifetime. Some vets consider such management systems create perfect conditions for the spread of disease through stress and multiple contacts.

Published research supports this theory that bovine TB may be more closely correlated with the husbandry system and thus animals’ susceptibility, rather than just exposure to the pathogen per se. The UK Agriculture Select Committee cited such research in 2001, suggesting that improvements in animal husbandry could be significant in reducing bTB – see: Griffin JM, Hahesy T, Lynch K, Salman MD, McCarthy J, Hurley T, 1993, The association of cattle husbandry practices, environmental factors and farmer characteristics with the occurrence of chronic bovine tuberculosis in dairy herds in the Republic of Ireland, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 17 (3-4) pp 145-160

Greater research into this factor is needed, given the ongoing economic pressures on dairy farmers to run larger herds of high-yielding cows.

Culling badgers
The latest ISG report confirmed previous findings that, ‘there is little evidence to support the view that proactive culling could provide a substantial contribution to control’ of bovine TB (bTB) in Great Britain, and that reactive culling of badgers ‘may well be counterproductive’. Given the ISG’s unequivocal conclusion that, ‘…badger culling cannot meaningfully contribute to the future control of cattle TB in Britain’, it seems unlikely that the government will go against the scientific evidence.



Whilst the Soil Association concurs with the findings of the ISG report that cattle are themselves are, ‘likely to be the main source of infection’, there seems little doubt that badger to cattle infection occurs as well as the other way round. The scientific evidence is that any reactive culling of badgers is likely to increase spread of bTB. There is an old farming adage, ‘never kill a good badger’ that supports the scientific evidence here. The only justification for killing badgers to control bTB would be if it were possible to identify live badgers that carry the disease - so following the same principle as with cattle.

Vaccination
Whilst prioritising husbandry that maximises positive health in livestock, the Soil Association welcomes the reported more imminent availability of an effective vaccine for both cattle and badgers. The availability of a vaccine would take pressure off both farmers and wildlife in the short-term, whilst long-term research is undertaken into building a national herd with naturally robust immune systems.

Status of Bovine TB as an animal disease
The Soil Association recognises the need to manage and minimise incidence of bovine TB and accepts that if left unchecked animal welfare and human health issues could arise, but government policy on controlling bovine TB appears to be as influenced by trading, economic and political factors as health and welfare.

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Biodiversity and Farming must work together

Did you know that we have lost some 97% of our flower-rich meadows and there are now half the number of farmland birds that there were 50 years ago. The continued deterioration of the natural environment has clear economic implications for the High Weald as it directly underpins many things that we take for granted such as pollination, flood protection and clean air, as well as, the amenity that the area brings.

Wealden will be a much poorer place in the future if widespread decline of many of our most important, and loved, habitats and species continues.

All the evidence points to the fact that the quality and extent of our natural environment across the Region will continue to decline unless current policies and land management practices are changed. Failure to respond will have enormously damaging implications for our wildlife, our landscapes, our health and our quality of life.

The importance of Habitats and Farming at Coopers Farm

Unimproved Grassland
Unimproved grasslands on neutral and acid soils are ancient habitats that have evolved through traditional land management by our ancestors over tens, hundreds or even thousands of years. Unimproved neutral grasslands in particular are extremely rich wildlife habitats with over a hundred plant species present in the sward of a single field. This is a product of inherently low soil fertility combined with a long history of grazing (pastures) and/or hay making (meadows) which prevents the domination of a few vigorous species or succession back to scrub and woodland. Additionally, grazing creates variations in habitat composition and structure, which increase the wildlife value particularly for insects and other invertebrates. Many species of bumble bees, moths and butterflies, grasshoppers, flies, wasps and beetles etc. are associated with or depend on, a continuum of grassland flowering plants for at least a part of their life-cycle. A number of nationally rare or scarce plant and animal species occur in unimproved grasslands in Sussex such as the green-winged orchid, meadow thistle and corky-fruited water dropwort. The considerable invertebrate fauna and also small mammals, in turn provide a foraging habitat for their predators. Barn owls, nightjars, woodpeckers, badgers, stoats, weasels and bats regularly visit from neighbouring habitats.

Traditional Grazing Regimes
Low intensity grazing creates a varied vegetation structure of short sward, areas of taller herbage and grass tussocks, and small patches of bare soil which offer a range of plant and invertebrate micro-habitats. A long history of traditional grazing can also result in considerable variation in ground conditions. Large ant-hills often develop and provide localised drier soil conditions, whilst at the other extreme are wet flushes, springs and marshy areas. Each supports a different and additional range of plant and animal species. For example ant-hills are an important food resource for green woodpecker, and wet flushes can be of special importance as feeding areas for wading birds such as snipe and woodcock. Birds such as skylarks and lapwings favour the open conditions of a varied pasture for nesting and/or feeding. Pasture provides excellent habitat for invertebrates, especially the insect groups mentioned above, because unlike hay meadows there is a continuity of vegetation structure throughout the year.

Hay Meadows
Traditional hay meadows are especially important for an additional range of annual plant species such as yellow rattle, eyebright and fairy flax, which cannot survive spring grazing or trampling because of their need to flower and set seed on an annual or near-annual cycle. The tall spring growth of hay meadows can also provide cover in spring for the ground nesting skylark, and the ungrazed flowers and foliage provide an important food resource for a wide range of insect species. Many of these insects visit from adjoining habitats, and indeed a number of scarcer woodland species (such as long-horn beetles) actually depend on the close proximity of flower-rich grasslands as an early summer food resource. Once the hay has been cut the traditional grazing of the aftermath (grass growth in autumn helps to keep coarse competitive grasses such as Yorkshire fog suppressed, and provides the short sward conditions required by annuals germinating from seed each year.

This is one of the core aims of Coopers Farm that farming and biodiversity can work in harmony.