February Manor Farm news

Chris and Charlotte Shipley

info@manorfarmbeef.co.uk

01262 490354

07912 941333 

We hope you have all had a good start to the New Year and here at Manor Farm we can not quite believe its February already! Chris and his Dad are already busy with calvings and they have already welcomed 1 Belted Galloway, 3 Aberdeen Angus, a hand full of British Friesians and twin British Blue bulls onto the farm!

This months beef comes from one of our British Blue cross heifers who was slow grown to 24months on grass and home grown barley/bean meal (she also spent the spring, summer and autumn months grazing in front of Burton Agnes Hall). All the beef has been hung on the bone for 22 days and has been expertly butchered by Glaves at Brompton by Sawdon.

We are looking forward to 2012 and we think its going to be a busier year than last. Some of you may have seen in this weeks Driffield Post that Manor Farm Beef has been shortlisted for the Remarkable East Yorkshire Tourism Awards (REYTA) in the 'Remarkable Fayre' category. We are incredibly excited by this shortlisting and look forward to an evening away from the cows at the awards dinner. 

We are also planning a number events for 2012 at Manor Farm

Open Farm Sunday - 17^th of June 2012.

11am-1pm - We plan to 'Open up' the farm yard for a morning of family activities. There will be a chance to visit the milking parlour, see some of our animals and see the farms machinery, 
including the tractors & combine.

2pm-4pm – a 2 hour walk showing how a mixed arable, beef and dairy farm works in conjunction with each other and the environment. This walk will be on farming terrain so wellies or hiking boots are a must! 

Festival of British Archaeology – July 2012 date tbc.

An Iron Age farmstead was discovered at the farm and we plan two events including a day of family activities at the site and an evening historical walk and talk, followed by a cheese and wine supper.

All events need to be pre booked by email (info@manorfarmbeef.co.uk) or telephone (01262 490354) and are free of charge except the cheese and wine supper which will cost £5 per person

So after setting up the blog with the intention of posting regularly, its been over week since our last post! The farm has been keeping Chris and his Dad busy with plenty of new calfs (Aberdeen Angus and Limousin cross as well as a hand full of British Friesian) as well as the twice daily task of milking. Inside we have been busy swapping bedrooms around to make way for our 3rd child this spring. Our 2 girls are now proud owners of a new 'butterfly and fairy' bedroom and Chris and I have inherited the not so glam study. But needs must!!

Our next Manor Farm Beef beast is due back next week so attention now turns to this. We have lots of beef boxes going off with Coast To Coast Couriers to Oxford, Manchester and London to name but a few destinations and we will be attending Driffield Farmers market and Hovingham market both on the 4th of Feb. We have decided that it is definatly still pie weather and so will be  bringing back some of our steak and kidney and steak and heart mix that proved extremely popular last autumn. 

We are finally getting geared up to offer samples to our customers on farmers market days (its only taken a year!!). One of our favourite cuts of beef is short rib of beef (also know as a Jacob's Ladder?). Its an incredible flavoured slow cooked bit of beef which our butcher expertly cuts into individual pieces. We then pack them in pairs and offer advice on how to cook them. Look out for them at Driffield and Hovingham, and don't forget to ask for a taste!

Hello and welcome to our new blogspot. As our existing Manor Farm Beef followers know, for the past 6 months I have been producing monthly newsletters that go out with our beef boxes and at farmers markets. We shall be continuing with these but we also thought we would blog about the day to day goings on here at Manor Farm. 

Through our blog we hope to share with you the highs and lows of farming on a mixed beef, dairy and arable family run farm situated between the Yorkshire Wolds and the Holderness flats. We hope you enjoy our ramblings and look forward to hearing from you.