Latest News

22 June

Orders are now being taken for WCF beef boxes, for further information please contact us

12 June

Some pictures of the WCF cattle and sheep, enjoying the evening sunshine

8 June

Checking the stock on the nature reserve, we chanced upon this nest (which our resident ornithologist says is either a Meadow Pippit or Skylark). Being just a few yards from a gateway there was a danger of the nest being trodden on, so we shut the cattle out of that field for a few days until the chicks had successfully flown the nest.

1 June

On Saturday 4 July, Natural England are holding a festival on the Wye NNR. As a part of the wide range of activities taking place on day, WCF will be running charcoal making and horse drawn timber demonstrations. For full details of the event see our Diary page.

11 May

A grant from the Kent Downs AONB unit has allowed WCF to purchase a charcoal kiln. As with our firewood enterprise, producing charcoal will allow us to add value to timber harvested on the NNR and so create employment and training opportunities. The photos show the kiln being fired for the first time this weekend.

5 May

This little piggy went to market…..or, more accurately, to our local, family run abattoir. We have just marketed our first pork, and the positive feedback from customers means that we will now be ordering more weaners (eight week old piglets) from our local British Saddleback breeder.

By working in this way with local farmers and abattoirs, our customers’ money is ploughed back into the local rural economy rather than being lost to distant supermarkets and global corporations.

13 April

New life at Easter. Throughout the lambing season, a rota of WCF volunteers have been checking the lambing shed every few hours. The importance of this close attention was demonstrated on Sunday morning, when one of these lambs was found to have made a failed bid to enter the world head first. The correct presentation is front feet and head coming together; with one or both legs back the lamb can get stuck at the shoulders but with the head delivered, with strangulation often ensuing. Swift intervention saw a safe delivery with a twin quickly following, as you can see both are now fine.

Here are the first of our lambs, now turned out to pasture and enjoying the Easter sunshine. We will be at the Wye Farmers Market with some of the WCF flock this coming Saturday. Come along to take part in ‘guess the name’ and ‘guess the weight’ competitions, with a years WCF membership and Wye Farmers Market gift vouchers on offer as prizes.

7 April

As you can see, lambing is now in full swing:

25 March

Pictured are Wye Crown Ava and Wye Crown Analese, the two heifer calves born into the WCF herd this spring. Between them is Officer Dibble, who has just arrived to spend the summer in Wye on a ‘busman’s holiday’. We have hired Dibble from the Bridge Homestead herd in Pulborough, from whom we purchased our first British Whites last year.

16 March

WCF volunteers recently attended a lambing course, organised by Livestock Health South East and facilitated by Westpoint veterinary group. The photo shows Ian the vet giving instruction in lambing technique with his dummy ewe (patent pending).

Our ewes are now housed ready for lambing to commence on 28 March. Whilst there are arguments in favour of lambing outside, the healthy wildlife population on the Wye NNR means that on balance the lambs should get a better start if inside for their first few days.

19 February

WCF have formed a positive partnership with Kent Probation Service, with members of the Community Payback scheme assisting in harvesting timber for our log enterprise.

11 February

As you can see, our stock took the recent snowy weather in their stride. The calf is Wye Crown Ava, our new arrival and the first calf to be born into the WCF herd.

12th January 2009

As you can see from the photos, two new enterprises have been introduced in the last few weeks. WCF volunteers have first call on the eggs; to get involved in our work parties on Saturday mornings and Wednesday afternoons contact us. (Pork to follow!)

27th December

Gathering winter fu-u-el

Seasons greetings from all at Wye Community Farm, and best wishes for 2009.

16 December

WCF have taken on management of a further parcel of the Wye NNR, mainly grazing but also a small area of woodland The photos show our cattle on this new ground (just across the road from the Devils Kneading Trough Restaurant).

Separately, we have also been invited to graze further blocks of private land in Wye and Brook. This means that in total WCF is now managing over 80 acres, on behalf of Natural England and five private landowners.

27 November

These 4 lambs went on their final journey yesterday. We use a local family run abattoir, meaning ‘food miles’ and stress levels are kept to an absolute minimum.

Almost all our lambs are now sold, all to local residents, with just 4 left to slaughter in the New Year. Additionally we have kept 8 ewe lambs, to enter the breeding flock next year.

20 November

The search to find buildings to operate from has reached a successful conclusion. We moved in to our new home last weekend; the two photos below show WCF volunteers beginning work tidying the barn, and the view of The Crown from the barn doors.

This gives us a base to operate from, and somewhere in the dry for our work parties to carry out winter tasks such as logging. The barn will also provide us with housing for some of our livestock, although most of the cattle will be outwintered on the nature reserve.

With the barn giving us the opportunity to develop a wider range of activities, WCF work parties are now being held twice a week; see Diary to get involved.

17 November

We are pleased to report that two grants have recently been secured to further develop the Wye Community Farm.

The Co-operative group (CWS) Ltd have provided a business development grant, to allow us to put together a long term business plan and financial model for the WCF.
The Kent Downs AONB Unit have provided funding to allow us to develop the woodland management side of our operations, such as log and charcoal production.

Many thanks to both organisations for their valuable support.

11th November

Derek the Dorset Ram has come to stay with our ewes for a few weeks. All being well, we will see the fruits of Derek’s labours next April.

6th September
Community Picnic

On the 6th September, Wye Community Farm and Wye Farmers Market worked together to hold a family picnic on top of the Downs.

Residents and visitors to Wye bought picnic food at the fabulous Wye Farmers Market, then joined us at the Devil's Kneading Trough, Wye for a family picnic. The children really enjoyed the face painting and storytelling in the tipi. Damian Green, MP also visited us to talk about local food and farming.

30 August

We have been busy in the last few days carting straw – purchased from a neighbour – for winter bedding (for anyone wondering about the novel roof on the trailer, it doubles as the stage for the Wye Christmas street party).



28 July

Saturday’s open day was a great success, with much interest in Frankie and her horses. We will be clearing timber on the NNR throughout the coming winter for firewood, and hope to get the Natural Traction team back in again to assist with this work.





16 July

Here are Kalamar and Sian being judged in the Young Farmers show ring at the Kent County Show. Whilst we don’t need to order a trophy cabinet just yet, this was an excellent example of how the WCF plans to provide education and training opportunities as the project develops.

10 July

For anyone going to the Kent County Show this weekend, be sure to visit the Young Farmers livestock area and say hello to Kalamar and Sian.

Kalamar is a member of the Wye Community Farm’s herd of British White cattle, whilst Sian is a resident of Wye and keen member of Young Farmers. Sian has spent the last few weeks halter training Kalamar and getting her in tip top condition for the show ring. The photos below show them setting off to the show this morning.

30 June

We now have some winter fodder in store, courtesy of Ripple Farm Organics who generously invited us to silage some of their clover leys. The photo of the bales being hauled was taken the day before The Crown was repainted; the second photo shows what a difference this has made.


We are pleased to say that our appeal for a bookkeeper has been successful, if you are looking for a friendly local accountancy service then contact Andrea at www.agsaccountancy.com


20 June

Three British White steers have arrived, see photo below, purchased from the same breeders as the heifers. This takes our cattle numbers to 12, as agreed with Natural England for our first seasons grazing on the Wye NNR.



Our sheep were sheared last night, see photo below. In the background you can see some of the lambs, the larger of which are now getting quite nervous at the mention of mint sauce…




9 June

Part of our agreement with Natural England is that we are felling Ash on the Wye National Nature Reserve. We now have logs for sale; £2.50/bag, £20 for 10 bags. To place your order please contact us.

Unfortunately for WCF our bookkeeper is leaving the area, meaning we need to fill this important role. If interested then please contact us.

19 May

A further two local residents have invited WCF to graze their land, allowing us to increase sheep numbers. We now have 19 Poll Dorset/ Dorset Horn ewes with lambs at foot. The best of the ewe lambs will be retained to expand the flock, with the rest being fattened for sale.

9 May

Our first Sussex cattle arrived yesterday, and have settled straight in with the British Whites in the Devils Kneading Trough. The Sussex are 15 month old steers, which we will be aiming to have to slaughter weight this autumn. A task over the coming weeks is to research the various options available for making our meat available to WCF supporters.

18 April

A neighbour to the Wye NNR came to see what we were up to a couple of Saturdays ago, said “follow me”, and invited us to graze a paddock adjoining his house. With the fencing not being up to cattle, and being confident that the bluetongue vaccine is on its way, we have reassessed our original decision not to get sheep during 2008 and have taken delivery of 3 Dorset Horn ewes with lambs at foot. This is a small example of how the WCF initiative is destined to expand in unexpected directions as new opportunities present themselves.



14 April

Our first farm walk on Saturday was a great success, with participants enjoying an informative guided tour of the Wye NNR in bright spring sunshine. The next walk is on 3 May, see Diary for details.





7 April

“Where on Earth are they……?” Devils Kneading Trough, 6 April





1 April

Cattle have now been moved through into the Devils Kneading Trough, to graze the chalk grassland and so maintain the ideal sward for the endangered Black Veined Moth. This moth is found at just a handful of sites in the UK - of which the Wye NNR is one – meaning the WCF cattle have a vital role to play in ensuring its survival.

The Wye herd grazing the Devils Kneading Trough



20 March

For details of farm walks and other forthcoming events, please see Diary


29 February

A new chapter for food and farming in Wye opened today, with the arrival of the first cattle on the Wye Community Farm.



For more photos and information on the cattle see About the farm, for details of how to get involved see Diary, and on the subject of diaries be sure to put the WCF’s first birthday in your forward planner for 2012!


19 February

Work is progressing well in anticipation of our first cattle arriving in the next few days. Fences have been repaired and handling facilities erected by our Saturday morning work parties; to get involved see the new diary page.



4 February

Through close consultation with Natural England we have settled on a grazing regime for the nature reserve, and we are now visiting breeders with a view to cattle arriving in the next few weeks. In the meantime there are practical tasks to be getting on with; checking fences, erecting handling facilities etc. We will be holding weekend working parties to complete this work, if you would like to get involved please contact us.


24 January 2008

We are delighted to announce that after all the effort of the last 12 months we have secured land to allow the Wye Community Farm to get mud on its boots. Agreement has been reached with Natural England for the WCF to take on the grazing rights to part of the Wye National Nature Reserve, commencing this spring. The photos on the header and side bar show images of this land, the part you may be most familiar with being the Devils Kneading Trough. We are currently discussing with Natural England a suitable stocking regime for this environmentally sensitive land, and will post more details here soon.



For News from 2007, please see our News Archive Page here.