Our Herd.
Our cows have a chilled way of life, as we recognise that the healthiest and happiest cows produce the best quality milk. They roam the pastures at Callestick Farm as they please and return to the dairy only once a day for milking. The milk is then transported back across the valley to the ice creamery with our own milk tanker – where we take expert care to produce truly amazing ice cream.
Our relaxed herd enjoy their Spring, Summer and Autumn, grazing the paddock pastures and only return to winter housing when it’s too cold and wet, for their dry period (maternity leave). This is the 2 months prior to calving that they are not producing milk as they relax in late pregnancy.
Our Land.
Callestick Farm isn’t just home to our farm animals. Thanks to the lovely natural Cornish hedgerows, we provide a habitat for a host of wildlife, from field mice and shrews to a wide range of insects and birds, they are all residents of Callestick Farm and we make sure to leave a fenced margin around all of our fields so that neither we, nor our cows disturb them!
Aside from our lovely surrounding pattern of pastures, we also have our very own natural spring with bubbling cool, fresh water. Because of these wonderful resources, we look after our land just as well as we look after our animals. It’s so important to us as a Cornish family and business to preserve the natural landscape for generations to come.
As with all UK dairy farms, the welfare of our cows is something we really care about. To show our dedication, the farm is Red Tractor approved – checked annually by official inspectors to ensure our herd and farm is run to the highest standards possible.
Our Environment.
As so much of our way of life relies on our environment, making the farm sustainable and environmentally friendly was a no brainer. From cow to cone, we try to make everything as green as possible.
We used to keep only 90 cows at the farm, which would be milked twice a day, fed silage and barley to maintain their busy lives, with each cow producing 7,500 litres of milk per year. Nowadays, we have 380 cows, milked once a day and eating fresh grass for 9 months of the year each produce only 3,500 litres per year. This shift to a more extensive farming system provides us with better quality milk but also reduces our carbon footprint per litre of milk.
We have made other investments on the farm, like solar panels which power our freezers, and in 2014 we installed a bio-mass boiler which heats the ice creamery, tea room, offices and the farm house. We use wood felled on the farm which has eliminated our reliance on fossil fuels for heating.
As you can see, we really pride ourselves on how much we care about our planet and we consider the environment in every aspect of our way of life. If you would like to know more then please do contact us.
Our Location.
Rooted in central Cornwall and over-the-hill from the dramatic North Cornish coast, Callestick Farm is nestled in the charming countryside. Our farm and the wider landscape is a patch-work of fields and meadows, intersected by woodland and wetlands which are teeming with wildlife.
The farm surrounds the Ventongimps Moor nature reserve, a 20 acre mosaic of heath, woodland and wetland ponds, noted for dragon and damselflies. It has been designated a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) for several decades and is carefully managed by Cornwall Wildlife Trust. It sits close to the Chyverton and Five Acre reserves which are also managed by CWT.
The farm has an even mix of higher and lower areas. The lower areas are intersected by a small stream and the higher areas are dominated by the remains of a medieval fortress. With slightly nearer history, there are the remnants of Cornwall’s rich mining history, a series of mine workings and commanding engine houses lie from across the valley which date the from mid nineteenth century.
