Laverstoke Park

Education Centre

Organic Cows

We have two of the most famous beef herds in the world. These are slower growing breeds although, under present regulations, we are required to raise and slaughter them within the 30-month limit. Our cattle rotate across approximately 2,400 acres of land.

Aberdeen Angus

We have two different types of Angus cattle on the farm. Our rare, pure Native Angus represents one third of their total world population! We also have a herd of Aberdeen Angus breeding females and one breeding bull. Aberdeen Angus produce outstanding quality beef, for which they are famous around the world.

The Aberdeen Angus originated in Scotland. The pure native breed has become rare as most Angus is now cross bred for faster growth and bigger size. Hence ours might look smaller than you might expect. 
 

Traditional Hereford

We also have pure traditional Hereford breeding females and one breeding bull.  Our herd represents about 20% of the world population of pure Herefords.  Although not quite so rare as the Angus, the traditional Hereford has become rare in comparison to the modern Hereford cross breeds. Our traditional Herefords have the distinctive brown body colour, white face and classic stocky build. Their beef, while a little fattier than the Angus, is equally famous for its taste and quality.

Water Buffalo

We have a herd of meat buffalo in addition to our dairy herd. Water buffalo are a common sight in Eastern Europe and throughout Asia. They are kept for meat and milk. Their milk is best known for making Mozzarella cheese whilst their meat is a tasty, lower fat alternative to beef (notwithstanding that the fat on our beef is healthy because the cattle are grass-fed!). We keep the buffalo just the same way as our other cattle except that they are larger and stronger. This means that even though they are good tempered animals, our hedges, fences, gates and even the milking parlour have to be reinforced to handle them safely!

Bovine Welfare

All of our cows and buffalos live outside in grassy fields and pastures enjoying the 31 different herbs, clovers and grasses in our mixed leys. Any calves that are born in the late autumn are brought into covered sheds with their mothers for two to three months during the coldest and wettest winter months, where they are fed silage (similar to pickled grasses) homemade from our mixed leys. They also get a mixture of home-grown cereals such as oats, wheat and barley. We bring the milking buffalo into covered areas from late November to early March, which means they are receiving a silage and cereal mixture which is a more nourishing feed. Keeping them inside also helps keep them a little less muddy during the wet winter months, as milking a buffalo caked in mud is not an easy task!

All of our cows and buffalo give birth naturally outside in the fields. The beef calves will stay with their mothers until they are naturally weaned; the dairy buffalo stay with their calves for four to seven days so that the calves get the benefit of their mothers colostrum. Then the calves go into a special calving pen where they are bottle fed unpasturised buffalo milk. Their mothers rejoin the dairy stock to be milked twice a day. When the dairy buffalo are in calf again, they will be given a two month break from milking prior to giving birth in order to rest and put on weight for a healthy calf. Cows are pregnant for nine months whereas buffalo are pregnant for ten months.

Bovine Comparison Chart