On a very dull and wet Friday a small group of us
set out for Frogmary Green Farm, South Petherton. Mary and Hazel kindly offered
to drive accompanied by Jan, Sue and ‘member for the day’ Tom.
We were
welcomed by Claire and Nick Bragg who farm here and were taken straight away
for a slice of delicious coffee cake and several cups of coffee and tea.
Claire
showed us their immaculate cookery school and conference rooms and explained
that although chickens were their main ‘crop’ they have had to diversify to
remain viable in today’s economic climate. If anyone is interested in their
cookery courses which range from artisan bread making to making your own
sausages to cooking to entertain, please look at their website www.cookitatfrogmary.co.uk.
Claire
explained about their business as we enjoyed our refreshments. As farmers they
grow maize and grass for fodder but rearing chickens to eat rather than for
eggs is their main ‘crop’. They produce chickens to the RSPCA Freedom Food
Welfare Standard. This means that their chickens are less densely reared
in indoor chicken houses and are reared
for longer,49 days, before they enter the ‘food market’ chain.
Nick and
Claire rear their birds and then they are sold onto a food supplier who buys
mainly for Sainsbury and Waitrose. The chickens have plenty of natural light,
perches to stand on, free access to food and water, string, CD’s and maize to
peck at to keep them interested and active, a thermostatically heat/humidity
controlled environment, regular checks on their well being throughout the day
and a very, very high standard of hygiene for both the chickens and those who
care for them. We were taken by Claire to see their newest chicken house which
has a public viewing gallery and we were impressed with the chickens living conditions.
(Due to glass panels I could not get a good photo of chicks this photo is from
the Frogmary website slide show – www.frogmarygreenfarm.co.uk/gallery
). They raise 620,000 Freedom for Food chickens per year on this site and
several other sites which they farm.
Claire
and Nick are keen to produce food efficiently on their farm whilst still being
mindful of the environment. They generate their own heat through woodchip
boilers and solar panels on their buildings. They have strips of wild flowers,
pollen and nectar margins alongside their hedgerows, water courses and woods to
provide for bumble bees and a wide variety of wildlife.
We said a
‘wet’ farewell to Claire at the end of our very enjoyable and educational two
hour visit and then proceeded to The Royal Oak at Over Stratton for a well-earned
lunch!
Sue
Rodford
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