Newbottle Estate Farm

Introduction
Newbottle Estate Farms is made up of some 650 ha of grass and arable land. The farm is made up of two commercial enterprises, the arable and the beef.  We are constantly looking at ways we can improve the farms performance whilst maintaining efficiency.  The farm is also run with as little impact on the environment as possible, encouraging as much biodiversity. We are members of LEAF (Linking the Environment and Farming) and follow their farming philosophy, ensuring the highest welfare standards for our stock and producing quality crops in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

The Arable

Most of the land is arable and we grow winter wheat, oilseed rape, beans and maize.  In 2008 we are pleased to have joined with two other local farms to create NDR Arable.  This partnership carries out the major arable operations across all three farms.  This allows us to enjoy economy of scale as we will have the most modern machines to cover the ground quickly and efficiently.  The grain is then stored on the farm and sold throughout the winter and spring by the marketing group Centaur.  Much of our wheat goes to Warburtons for bread.  We also transfer some of the feed wheat, beans and straw to the cattle venture.  The arable enterprise operates within the scope of various environmental schemes.  These include measures such as leaving field margins or cutting the hedges less frequently.

The Beef

We also run a herd of 150 Aberdeen Angus suckler cows which produce Newbottle Estate Beef which is sold through our Brackley Butchers.  Beef has been produced on the Newbottle Estate for nearly 50 years and at one stage there was a herd of nearly 60 mainly Hereford cows on the Estate. In the 1990’s the number of cows was reduced to 35 farmed on an extensive basis and the focus was more on the arable side of the business. However since 2005 the focus has switched back towards livestock, with current cow numbers at 150 predominantly Aberdeen Angus breeding cows.  All our bulls are pedigree Aberdeen Angus. All the calves born to the cows stay with their mothers until a minimum of 6 months old when they are weaned. They are then grazed and fed on the farm until they are mature at about 2 years old.The cattle graze the fields around Newbottle and Charlton in the summer and can often be seen from the road as you drive into Charlton.  During the winter the cows are housed in modern buildings and fed on home produced silage, wheat, beans and straw.  We believe in high welfare and all our animals are annually assessed under the ABM (Assured British Meat) standard.

Rare Breeds

In addition to the commercial enterprises, we also have a small pedigree herd of Longhorn cattle and a small flock of Cotswold sheep.  The Longhorn were originally used as draught oxen but their meat is extremely good.  Unfortunately it takes an extra 6 - 12 months to mature and they are more fatty and so, despite the fact that they are absolutely delicious, they are not very commercial.  All of ours are occasionally found for sale at Brackley Butchers.  Cotswold sheep were once prized for their wool but with the value of the sheep now being in the lamb, the breed has become one of the rarest in England.  The sheep are sheared every May/June time and the wool is sold.  We sometimes keep wool back for individual weavers.