Jan & Keith Barnard
Gorse Farm near Whitland, Pembrokeshire
Location
Situated in Pembrokeshire not far from the tiny village of Lampeter Velfrey, Gorse Farm is perched on the hillside to the south of the A40, a short trip from the sandy beaches of Tenby and Saundersfoot with panoramic views to the Presselli Mountains.
Organic Status
Jan and Keith Barnard have farmed here since summer 1996. It was a simple decision to seek organic status because the farm had been run for the past one hundred years by the same family on traditional farming lines. It was during 1998 that Jan and Keith acheived full Organic status and certification by the Soil Association.
The Farming
The farm extends to 26 ha. and is all down to grass providing rich grazing for the cattle and sheep on the holding, there is a small area of woodland and a lake of about 1.5 ha. These provide areas for lots of wildlife, "the unpaid workers" Jan calls them. Around a dozen Welsh Black suckler cows are kept with the home grown bull "Gorse Brenin" keeping the family tree growing each Spring. At any one time there are up to forty Welsh Black cattle on the farm. Autumn is the traditional sales time when heifers are sold to other Welsh Black Oganic breeders and numbers are reduced before they are all housed over the winter period when they are fed home grown silage with some organic
barley. There are also 120 Lleyn ewes, a breed well established in North Wales on the Lleyn Peninsular, these ewes are good mothers and generally produce twins, they milk very well producing strong healthy lambs of grass.
