Holy Cow
I am standing on a ridge overlooking a valley with a classic pastoral view falling away from me: a patchwork of hedgerow-edged fields dotted with cows.
The wind blows and the trees sway – a timeless scene of the English countryside. Some of the herd are small brown Jerseys, others are slightly bigger with the familiar black and white markings of the Friesians that have populated our countryside over the past half-century. This is the dairy herd of Holy Cow Organics in North Perrott, 40-minutes down the road from Sherborne and supplier of the milk sold in our shop and used at the café and restaurant.
And holy moly, it is good milk. It is rich and sweet, with a mild yet characterful flavour. It is organic and unhomogenised, with a thick band of cream that rises to the top overnight. This is milk that harks back to another time, when milk came straight from the farm, and we were all more connected to where our food came from. It is also milk that nutritionists and parents love. Rich in protein and high in butterfat and essential amino acids, it’s more digestible as well as more nourishing than conventional milk, with no additives or preservatives.
‘One of the reasons our milk is so good is the range of crops we grow for grazing, including red and white clover, lucerne, rye grasses and other species,’ says farmer Matthew Senior. Automatic gates allow access to different grazing areas, changing the direction of the gates to send cows into the different pastures, making sure that they graze a combination of crops, and protecting the land and growth of the different areas.‘The dryness of this past summer was quite a challenge, and we had to go to our winter forage but we’ve made it through ok,’ he says.
Matthew and Coral established Holy Cow some thirteen years ago, at first with an exclusively Jersey herd for the quality and richness of milk, and over time, bred them with Friesians, to increase their yield. The cows spend 9-10 months a year grazing outside, and each produces 18-20 litres of organic milk a day – about half the volume you’d expect from a conventionally farmed dairy herd. They look, even to my untrained eye, healthy and relaxed, wandering between the grazing pastures and the yards freely, confident around people, their coats shiny, and, well, they look happy.
They are friendly animals, and beautiful, too – their big, liquid eyes fringed with thick lashes. Noticeable for a dairy herd, their udders are not swollen and distended with milk. This is because they are completely free range, gaining entry via the big black necklaces they wear, to a milking robot which opens the gates to let them in, as well as recording data from each milking session. ‘I call them their Pandora necklaces,’ smiles Matthew. The necklaces have mostly become established practice with large herds of primarily indoor animals, but Matthew finds them easy and rewarding to work with. Not least because it means his day starts closer to 7am rather than the 5am start that many dairy farmers endure. ‘We love them being completely free range,’ says Matthew. It’s the cows that choose when they want to be milked, whether they want to shelter from the wind for a while or graze their 350 acres.
About 10% of the milk produced goes directly to the local Holy Cow refill stations, the closest of which to Sherborne can be found at Teals. Holy Cow is also the sole supplier of milk to fabulous Dorset gelato-makers Baboo, whose string of beachside shacks have become one of the Dorset seaside highlights (and which coincidentally, can also be found at Teals, right next to the milk station).
‘You have your good days and your bad, but I love all the different elements to this life,’ says Matthew. A good day on the farm might be when a calf is born, or simply being outside in the sun all day. Soon, they expect their daughter, Bethan, back from New Zealand where she has also been dairy farming, and hope that she might put her experience to use on the family farm. She would be working alongside her brother Morgan, who does all the tractor work, and sister-in-law, Rachel, who works in the office. Even their tiny dog, Olive, a daschund-terrier-cross looks very involved in the everyday work of the farm, trotting confidently behind Coral. They have no plans currently for expansion. ‘We have the right number of cows for the land, and it’s possible to manage it as a family-run business. We’re proud of our milk and love being able to connect directly with our customers.’
