The Farm

Follow The Farm if you are interested in:

• How organic management principles can benefit your soil structure and grassland
• Managing a tight spring calving block herd
• Developing healthy soils to increase your feed tonnages per hectare
• Reducing instances of mastitis in your herd
• Developing long-term farm infrastructure and processes 
• Exploring how homeopathy can reduce antibiotic usage
• Creating and implementing new youngstock and grazing management strategies
• Using environmental benchmarking and carbon footprinting to drive positive change

Overview

The Farm, in Shropshire, is part-owned and operated by Tim and Louise Downes and their family.

They have been farming here since Tim’s grandfather initially tenanted the land in around 1950 with it moving onto Tim's father, John. Since 2000, The Farm has specialised in organic dairy farming, with a tight spring block-calving herd of 260 Irish and New Zealand Friesian’s crossed with Norwegian Red’s.

The extended farm team includes Tim’s father and mother, who look after the beef operations. Herdsman, Sean McKay; assistant herdsman, Taylor Corke; and regular placements from Harper University (currently Peter Loxdale, who will soon be replaced by Lewis Williams) run the dairy side of the farm. They are also assisted by their children, Isabel and Oliver, on relevant supervised tasks.

In 2016, they purchased a second farm, six miles to the north, and have another 250-strong spring block-calving herd located there.

Our farm 

The Farm has 147 ha (365 acres), as well as other separate blocks that are scattered across the surrounding area. Park Farm has 89 ha (220 acres) and Red House Farm 38 ha (95 acres); both are utilised for beef and silage production. Chatwell Farm adds 61 ha (150 acres) for contract beef rearing and grass silage while heifers are reared on nearby Chatford Farm by a long-term family friend. Finally, Webscot Farm provides a 101 ha (250 acres) grazing platform for their recently acquired second herd.

Their grazing platforms mainly consist of red and white clover with Aber grasses that also include chicory and plantain where possible. Wholecrop oats are used across 10 ha (25 acres). The farm’s plots have many different soil types, ranging from heavy soils through to sandy stone. The Farm utilises ‘silvo pasture’, planting trees on grazing land and Tim has also opted to utilise willow for its anti-inflammatory properties. To improve soil quality, they spray minerals and trace elements in liquid form.

Currently, they achieve 3,500L from forage and are looking to use AHDB Herd Genetic Reports for selective breeding, as well as taking other actions to improve their milk solids content.

Our herd 

The herd at The Farm is currently made up of 260 Irish and New Zealand based Friesian cows crossed with Norwegian Reds; they operate a similar herd of 250 at their other nearby farm. They utilise a spring block-calving system, with planned calving starting in on 15 February and 60% calving within the first six weeks.

Breeding decisions are made with cell counts and animal welfare in mind, due to their inability to use antibiotics. They use sexed semen and beef straws and sell excess heifers once weaned. Bull calves are all raised for beef and sold to Waitrose.

Our journey

Over the next three years, Tim and Louise will be aiming to develop new grazing and youngstock strategies; reduce instances of mastitis in their herd; improve milk solids within their outputs; and lay down a long-term plan for improving infrastructure and processes across the farm, while ensuring a positive and friendly place for their valued staff.  

Our key performance figures

The Farm openly share their key performance indicators, so you can see how they perform against a number or technical and financial measures.

News and past events

• Grazing and grass growth – a strategic farm update (May 2023) Emily Collins, knowledge exchange manager for dairy, caught up with farmer, Tim Downes, to hear more about this year’s grazing, silage and grass growth.
• Making the most of your buildings at calving (May 2021) Tim Downes, alongside Nathan Loewenstein, vet, and Ian Ohnstad, dairy building expert, explore how to make the most of your buildings at calving.
• The Farm strategic farm launch (June 2020) Tim Downes provides a detailed overview of The Farm and introduces us to his 'calfateria'.

Explore our other strategic dairy farms