Cotswold Seeds - Case Studies

Case Study: Rob Havard on Environmental Stewardship

Rob Havard’s herd of pedigree Aberdeen Angus is bred to produce breeding stock bulls, and comprises 60 sucklers, plus followers. As Rob is a member of the Pasture for ...

Undersowing Spring Cereals with a Legume Mixture & Trialling a Living Mulch

As part of our ongoing trials and research at Honeydale Farm, for the past three years now, we have been experimenting with undersowing spring sown cereals with fertility ...

Case Study: Lamins Mix with David Renner

David Renner is a third generation farmer who also has a degree in biological sciences from Oxford University. What particularly interested him during his studies was a module ...

Case Study: Four Year Humus Builder with John Farquharson

‘Without soil, the arable farmer is nothing’, says John Farquharson, who farms Wolmore Farm, halfway between Bridgnorth and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, in ...

Case Study: Specialist Hay Ley with Huw Jones

A coastal farm that suffers from damp atmospheric conditions is not ideal for making hay, but Huw Jones, a fourth generation farmer in Cardigan, West Wales, has developed a ...

Case Study: Sainfoin with Vernon Bailey

Vernon Bailey has farmed his land in Oxfordshire for fifty years but recently learned from a farmer who was working it back in the 1920s that one of the fields was historically ...

Herbal Ley for Cutting

Farmer James Foote was prompted to contact us earlier this year after seeing our various discussions regarding herbal leys on social media. James farms near Truro in Cornwall and ...

Case Study: Wildflowers with Emmerich von Maltzahn

Here Emmerich von Maltzahn from Oxfordshire talks about establishing a wildflower meadow on one of his fields. This three acre site, which was once arable land has ...

Case Study: HLS Mixtures with Lord Willoughby de Broke

Over the last two years Lord Willoughby de Broke has planted wild bird seed mixtures and nectar mixtures. Here he talks to us about his involvement in environmental schemes. Now ...

Case Study: Wildflower meadow with Tony Bryant

Creating a spectacular new wild flower meadow as part of a large garden which is open to the ...

Case Study: Pochon Persistent ley with John Rogers

Here John Rogers from Hereford describes his Pochon Persistent mixture and how he is able to achieve high yields with no artificial Nitrogen inputs. He regularly takes ...

One Man and his Clover

Dick Roper is the farm manager at Broadfield Farm partnership, a traditional mixed farm in the Cotswolds. He is known to many for his sheepdog handling skills. With over 2400 ...

Case Study: Green Manure with Caroline Corsie

This wildlife friendly farm has adopted a very long term approach to its soils. Caroline Corsie, a trained agronomist, is the manager and believes that farming starts from the ...

Case Study: Herbal Ley for Water Buffalo with Dagan James

Dagan James is an organic farmer who mob-grazes Water Buffalo on his special herbal ley. Complex seed mixes have been grown on this farm in Stockbridge since 2004, ...

Case Study: Lamins with Sandy McFarland

Here Sandy McFarland, a long time organic customer of Cotswold Seeds, explains his preference for the Lamins Ley and its benefits over ryegrass-only leys for his dairy ...

Case Study: Long Term Grazing Leys with Tom Butler Stoney

Tom and his family have been farming near Kings Lynn since the 1960s, having originally moved up from Hampshire. The farm is a mixed dairy and arable enterprise, based around a ...

Case Study: Pochon Persistent Ley with John Rogers