Our family farm

Palmer’s Farm is a 200 acre farm in Clayhidon run by the Blackmore Family and my Dad and I are the 9th and 10th generation to farm here.

We have a herd of 75 British Friesians, 2 Fleckviehs (complete with cow bell), 2 x Ayrshires, 1 x Dairy Shorthorn, a Norwegian Red and a partridge in a pear tree. All our cows are fed on a grass based system, trying to make the most of the gorgeous grass we grow here in the South West. We try to keep our girls out to grass for as much of the year as possible and we milk twice a day in our old skool abreast parlour.

As well as the cows, we keep 100 head of beef cattle, from calves right through to finish. We love our native breeds including Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, Devons and Murray Grey, along with a few of the continental breeds thrown in. In the summer they roam 900 feet above Hemyock and have some of the best views going. We try to be as sustainable as possible and grow 40 acres of barley to feed and bed all our animals in winter.

As a farm, we believe in the highest possible standards of animal welfare and have Red Tractor farm assurance but it is equally as important to us that we work in harmony with nature. We have lived here a long time, in fact over 500 years and we need to ensure there’s something wonderful to pass on to future generations.

We need to move with the times to ensure our survival and have lots of exciting plans in the pipeline to tell you about, the first of which will be to bring you our lovely grass-fed, native-breed beef which you can read more about in The Beef Barn.