Here at Local Food Britain, we love nothing better than to hear the stories of our members, and to watch their businesses flourish and thrive.
One such enterprise is Nutfield Dairy, a small scale dairy farm milking 25 traditional Shorthorn cows, which was founded by Matthew Elphick and his partner Betsie at Nutfield near Redhill in Surrey four years ago, in 2020. We've visited Matthew and Betsie on several occasions, and theirs is clearly a story of hard work and dedication. Last time we called in, Betsie was milking the cows whilst their toddler sat in his pram in the corner of the milking parlour! The couple has recently welcomed a second son, who can be seen on Instagram (@NutfieldDairy) giggling away with his older brother, both perched on a hay bale out in the sunshine.
It's a good life, but one which requires endless hard work and dedication.
Matthew and Betsie are passionate about nature-friendly, regenerative farming, and believe cows play an important role in the countryside. Bovines do get bad press, it's true, but Matthew and Betsie talk knowledgeably and passionately about creating a landscape capable of efficiently capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil. Here, it feeds microbes, making the soil nutrient dense and in turn providing nutrient-rich food. They explain how this is also incredibly important for our ecosystem; how, to benefit all wildlife, we need to start at the bottom of the food chain and work our way up.
SUPPORT NUTFIELD DAIRY IN THEIR CROWDFUNDING
The vision is to convert an old electric milk float into a mobile shop so they can sell milk directly to customers. The float will house a specially designed milk dispenser which will contain whole and semi skimmed milk, and they will also make milkshakes. By parking in a few locations over the course of the week, customers can refill their glass milk bottles.
This is a much more economically viable method of selling milk; a yoghurt dispenser could work in the same way so natural yoghurt can also be sold in reusable glass jars.
Farming regeneratively improves the health and function of a dairy farmer's most important asset, the soil. In the effort to combat climate change, the number one priority needs to be restoring soil health. Nutfield Dairy doesn't use any unnatural fertiliser or chemical sprays and they move the cows daily to prevent overgrazing and improve biodiversity.
The welfare of the animals is their number one priority. We have adapted their system so the cows and their calves can stay together, rather than being removed soon after birth. Whilst this means less milk production, it takes that stress away from the animals and makes for very happy and healthy cows and calves.
By farming the way they do, Nutfield Dairy is improving the environment. However, they also want to ensure that the way they sell the produce is also sustainable. As well as being able to significantly reduce packaging, the milk float will be fully electric and have an inverter and a solar panel on top to charge the battery.
Tags:
