Alan Jones at Derwen Gam
When February comes around, I pick up the phone and call Alan Jones. Lambing season is approaching. However, it isn’t for the lamb I am getting in touch about.
Alan Jones is an organic farmer on the Lleyn peninsula near Pwllheli, North Wales. On his farm, Derwen Gam (Crooked Oak), he breeds Lleyn sheep to produce rich and satisfying milk. He has worked with sheep for three years now. His flock consists of 200 sheep, 120 of which are used for milk production.
Lleyn are a native breed to this particular peninsula near the Snowdonia National Park. They were also originally found in parts of Ireland. In the 1970s, the population of these sheep dropped to around 7,000 but has since enjoyed a steady growth, especially in parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. This is due to the characteristics of the ewe, a prolific breeder, with a quiet temperament that yields high levels of milk for her offspring. They produce a healthy quantity of milk feeding purely on grassy pastures, and this is precisely why Alan spends the majority of his time researching and implementing a strict herbal ley system. His use of herbal leys is integral to the health of his flock and the flavour of their milk, which is why I wanted to visit him.
A herbal ley is a complex mixture of grasses, herbs and legumes that is maintained through animal grazing. Its benefits to the soil, wildlife and livestock are innumerable. Frank Newman Turner, a pioneer in this field, described these pastures as his “manure merchant, food manufacturer and vet all in one”.
Alan’s reasons for utilising this system are that it saves money and time whilst providing his flock with precisely what they need when they need it. We should understand that farmers' choices to follow organic principles and traditional methods must, primarily, come down to good business. Alan turned from breeding cattle to sheep when the foot and mouth crisis hit hard, ruining thousands of farms up and down the Isles, including Alan’s. The plan made good business sense, after all, farmers must first make a living to sustain their families and livelihoods. This is why many farmers, in the first place, turn to fertilisers and antibiotics to maintain steady growth of their crops and livestock, and pesticides and fungicides to suppress weeds, pests, and other unwanted troubles that can kill off their crops.
These farmers were given tools to ensure their crops would be successful year after year with minimal maintenance and effort. The poisons that now leach into our soils, rivers and our bodies were offered to make sure the farmer would not go bankrupt, that he could feed his children, cut out the strain of long days and nights and prosper against the supposed opposition of nature. Unfortunately, this has given control to agri-chemical companies and turned intensive farming into a lucrative business. These options, for an uncertain farmer, are understandable on personal terms, but there have always been other, more traditional methods available that require a little more planning and a firm understanding of working with nature. We needn’t use the modern labels of ‘organic’ or ‘biodynamic’ but rather observe these principles for their sound ethical reasoning to both the land, the economy and our bodies.
Alan’s organic herbal leys are a wonder to behold. The bright colours are attractive, the smells are sweet and aromatic, and underfoot, it is soft and springy. It is easy to maintain, requiring only a simple rotational grazing system to keep it short, and it proves to be enormously cost-efficient. That’s because the various herbs are feeding the soil and the sheep all at once. And not just that, but it is also medicating both parties.
Each type of grass, herb and legume that Alan plants plays a unique and integral role, which when combined, creates a delicate and balanced system of biodiversity that is harmonious to all concerned.
Grasses, which include western ryegrass, timothy, cocksfoot, meadow fescue, creeping red fescue, and foxtail, take on many applications in the overall picture. First, our climate here in the British Isles is ideal for grass growth, making it a cheap and abundant source of forage for livestock.
Westerworlds, in particular, is a rapidly growing variety, and along with its high sugar content, is ideal for producing silage that will feed the animals throughout winter.
Cocksfoot has the deepest roots of the varieties, which makes it ideal for facilitating drainage and offering lots of organic matter to thin soils. It is the earliest of the grasses to spring and grows back after grazing with vigour.
Red fescue tolerates drought, forming a dense turf that makes it a good choice for surplus forage.
Legumes play a complementary role, collecting nitrogen from the air and fixing it into the soil to aid plant growth, thereby eliminating the need for artificial nitrogen fertilisers. Legumes are also rich in protein and possess medicinal properties, which can enhance animal welfare and performance. Included in Alan’s mix are white clover, red clover, crimson clover, sainfoin, sweet clover and vetches.
White clover is probably one of the most valuable plants in any organic farmer’s arsenal. The stem that runs along the ground, producing leaves and flowers at low levels, makes it perfect for grazing. It grows well in nitrogen-deficient soil and adds carbon trapped from the sunlight back into the soil. As an integral part of the sheep's diet, it helps cleanse the blood, aids digestion, and balances cholesterol levels.
Sainfoin adds copious amounts of nitrogen to the soil, eradicating the need for chemical fertilisers. It is also high in tannins, which contribute to a high protein content in the feed. The tannins present also prevent bloat in the sheep. Its medicinal properties extend to serving as a natural worming antidote for lambs, as it possesses natural anthelmintic properties. It also helps reduce the amount of methane produced by ruminants, which is invaluable from an environmental perspective. In this one plant, we find various ailment preventatives that eliminate the need for antibiotics, while also helping to enrich the soil and keep the atmosphere clean.
Sweet clover is a huge nitrogen fixer and produces large quantities of green material for forage, while vetch outcompetes weeds and improves soil structure.
Herbs have deep-rooted systems, which aerate the soil; the wayside leaves tractors and their high diesel consumption. The herbs are abundant in micronutrients and minerals, adding a high nutrient content to the diet. Remarkably, or perhaps not so remarkably, these nutrients end up in our milk, adding nutrients to our bodies.
Herbs in the mix include chicory, ribgrass, yarrow, and burnet. Alan loves chicory. We set out on his springy pastures, heads bent to the ground as he points out each grass, legume, and herb, and tells us about each benefit. The chicory was yet to burst into season, but he was determined to find a sample that he could show off.
It is deep-rooted and will thrive in periods of heavy drought. It is high-yielding, rich in minerals, and also has anthelmintic properties, which prevent intestinal parasites in animals. Ribgrass is another nutritious plant, specifically containing large amounts of copper, calcium and selenium.
Yarrow is rich in vitamin A. This is interesting in sheep, as unlike cows, they do not transform vitamin A into carotene, which is what turns cows' milk butter yellow; milk butter’s milk butter (rare as it is) stays white.
Striding through these grasses and herbs, I couldn’t work out why anyone would farm any other way. Alan told me that many of his neighbours laughed at his rotation system whereby Alan herds the sheep twice a day to different meadows. The sheep will clip the grass from the tops when it has grown to just under a foot, leaving the last few leaves, which allows the plants to catch sunlight to propel growth. This process will take anywhere from three to seven days, weather-dependent, after which the sheep will be returned to the meadow to enjoy the flavours, nutrients, and medicines at their optimal level.
Alan enjoys the time outdoors, and as the meadows only need replenishing with new seed every three years or so, he cuts out time spent weeding, ploughing, and fertilising, and, most importantly for a small-hold farmer, saves money on machinery, chemical fertilisers, and diesel.
In this scenario, everyone seems to win. Alan spends time outdoors, roaming the fields with his flock, surrounded by the natural world. The sheep enjoy a diet high in nutrients and are served medically by the wondrous plants. The land is thick with vegetation, making a veritable habitat for insects, birds, and other wildlife while replenishing the soil and cleaning the air around. At the other end of the chain, we receive milk that is so thick and creamy, flavoursome, and packed with vitamins and minerals.
The sheep themselves are a testament to the benefits of the system. As Alan tells me, when he started sowing herbal ley, he only laid out one field. When it came time to move the sheep to a new pasture, they instinctively went to the herbal ley every time.
The ewes are milked twice a day, at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Walking up a gantry, tempted by a little feed, Alan secures their heads and attaches a pump to their teats. This way, he can milk two Sheep at a time. Afterwards, their teats are wiped with organic wool, which keeps the sheep clean and prevents infection without the use of unnecessary chemicals.
In lambing season, the lambs are left with their mother for up to 6 weeks and then weaned, after which they are fed by bottle. A lamb can drink 1.5 litres a day, and an Ewe can produce 3 litres a day, so there is plenty for the lamb to drink and for Alan to collect. Later, when the lamb needs a larger amount of milk, a substitute powder is mixed with leftover whey from Carrie’s cheese-making process.
The sheep will be milked for 7 - 8 months between March and November. At the beginning of this season, the milk had a 3.1% cream content. In April, it increased to 5.9%, and the last season ended with a 13% content. This is due to the pasture becoming richer through the summer months. Extra fields are planted with his mixture of herbs and grasses to produce hay and silage containing a high variety of herbs for the winter months.
Alan’s milk is distributed to only three places. Cariad Bakery in Anglesey, Carrie Rimes of Cosyn Cymru, who is a sheep cheese producer in Bethesda, and our lucky selves at Where the Light Gets In Stockport. Here, it flows through the menu from yoghurt, curds, and an ice cream garnished with the leftover whey in the form of a caramel.
There is, of course, a long waiting list for Alan’s milk, and we feel incredibly lucky and privileged to work with this product that all begins with what appears to be a field full of grass.