Nene Flock

                                                            Spring Lamb that's born and raised       

                                                    in the picturesque Nene Valley near Daventry.

The Nene Flock is a small flock of 25 Wiltshire Horn sheep, the Wiltshire Horn is a very old

native breed and up until the end of the eighteenth century was the predominant breed found on

the Wiltshire downs. The females are good milky mothers, producing vigorous lambs that finish well at

grass. Wiltshire Horns are also unique amongst UK native breeds for their ability to shed their fleece naturally,

meaning they do not require shearing. 

The lambs are born inside during March each year and are turned outside with their mothers as soon as they are old

enough,usually at a week or two weeks old. They spend their entire lives grazing on the lovely meadows surrounding

the farm being given a modest amount of concentrate feed towards the end of summer. This is done to achieve the

level of carcass finish that customer feedback has told us is optimum. Clare and Nikolai also run a pedigree Simmental

herd (Blackfriar Simmentals), a stock bull from this herd is used by George on both the pedigree and commercial

herd at Red Oak Farm. Nene lamb is available from Mellow Meats normally in October depending on the season,

we aim to offer this as either whole of half boxes butchered to the customers spec or our standard one.

This lamb is very popular so always advisable to have your name on the list to avoid disappointment. 

Upper Spernal Farm

                                                          From the home of Purity Beer, beef raised in the

                                               beautiful countryside in the heart of Warwickshire.

The cattle at Upper Spernal Farm are a mix of Pedigree Longhorn and Longhorn crossed with Red 

Aberdeen Angus. The Longhorn breed dates back to the 1700's, being very popular in the Craven district of  

Yorkshire. In 1760 a farmer in Leicestershire took on improving the breed, by 1810 the majority of beef

cattle in the Midlands were of improved Longhorn type. Fast forward to 1970 and the

Longhorn breed was classed as a rare breed when the Rare Breeds

Survial Trust was formed. Since then the breed has steadily grown and is no longer classed

as a rare breed with over 12,000 registered females in the UK. One of these breeders is

Granville at Upper Spernal Farm. Mellow Meats connection with Granville started when he brought

a Pedigree Red Angus bull from George for his breeding program, hence why we have the connection

and our very proud to offer this amazing beef to our customers.

Granville likes Longhorns as they are easy calvers and can stay outside, they are good mums and very docile. Longhorns are not big muscled lean athletic cattle but are slow maturing animals with fat marbling the muscle. In other words, Longhorn beef tastes great. The only problem with a pure bred longhorn is that they take an age to finish so we now cross the Longhorns with a Red Angus bull, the Red Angus is a compact easy calving breed that gives the carcass more muscle without any loss in the flavour.                                                   The cattle year starts with the cows and calves going off to go conservation grazing in April for the summer and autumn.  Like all native breeds they can convert low quality forage into milk for their calves. When winter comes the cows and young calves weather permitting stay out on some old pasture where they can be fed. As long as they have feed and there is shelter, they are happier outside.                                          The rest come into the sheds to grow on or finish. We feed them on good quality silage from grass leys where we have to use a bit of old sunshine; and our secret ingredient is brewers grains which give the meat a unique flavour.                                                                           The brewers grains come from Purity Brewing company who brew in an extremely efficient way and use a reed bed system to treat their waste making them one of the most ecologically sound brewers in the county.                                                                                                            The carbon footprint for grain delivery is small. Travel times for brewers grain collection vary from three to five minutes depending on whether I have to get out of the tractor and open the gates to the brewery. The cattle are on the same farm the brewery.                              This beef truly is amazing and only available at Mellow Meats.

The Pig Place

                                                          Happy pigs produced free range

                              outside as nature intended.

The Pig Place is a rather unique campsite situated beside the Oxford canal in-between Adderbury

and Aynho near Banbury. As the name suggest as well as a campsite they also produce 

free range pork. Breed wise you will find Gloucester Old Spot, Pietrin and Saddleback,