Hurdlebrook Farm
We were very excited to be invited to Hurdlebrook Farm in Somerset. David Paull and his wife Rosie were fantastic hosts we were joined by other QMP members and the Guild of Food Writers, which is great publicity for QMP.
Meet David and Rosie Paull of Hurdlebrook Farm
Hurdlebrook has been producing high quality, raw milk and cream from their award winning Guernsey cows since the early 1980's - with Taste of the West and Royal Bath and West Show awards. Their goal is to always keep their customers happy and healthy
Hurdlebrook
Guernseys for goodness sake!
A tour of the farm
Our day started with a farm tour, the Guernseys out at pasture with an idylic backdrop.
Question Time
David and Rosie were more than happy to answer all the questions from the group
On route to the parlour
The 180 stong herd choose when they come into the parlour for milking
On route to the parlour
Rosie and David utilise a 3 block field system on an 8 hour rotation
The entry system to the robotic parlour
Off to the parlour
Hurdlebrook's implemented the robotic system in summer of 2018 and it took the herd just 5 days to learn and adjust to the system
In the queue
Each cow awaits its turn at the robot.
The robot in action
Lasers guide the cluster unit onto the teats following a washing and sterilisation regime
The heart of the milking system
The brain of the robotic system
The computer which controls the robots
Electronic collars
These collars feed all the data needed for each individual animal to the robot
Question Time
David and Rosie were happy to answer all our questions about the high tech robotic system they use
Milking finished
Post milking the cows exit via the grazeway system
Off to pasture
"Marigold"
This cow really loved posing for our pictures
A visit to the calf pen
Our tour of the farm ended with a visit to the calf pens. Here is Meera from the Guild of Food Writers meeting the calves
The Calf pens
The Guild of Food Writers along with QMP and lots of other Jersey and Guernsey dairy producers thoroughly enjoyed the day at Hurdlebrook
The taster table
We all got to sample the delicous Guernsey products from Hurdlebrook
Hurdlebrook Yoghurts
A small selection of the delicious produce we got to sample
Silvia from the Guild of Food Writers remarked about Babcary Brie,
"I love the richness of the milk thats reflecting in the cheese"
"I love the richness of the milk thats reflecting in the cheese"