The Burlton Inn is pleased to partner with Wackley Farm as our local meat supplier.
They are a third generation family farm, and have farmed at Wackley, just outside Burlton, since 1974. They focus on producing sustainable, nutritious and healthy meat from animals that have been born, reared and finished in an environment that is as natural and stress-free as possible.
Their breeding cows are a mix of breeds, all selected for their ability to thrive off a natural, low input diet, with all calves sired by a Wagyu bull. They aim for easy calving animals that can live outside all year round, and fatten purely off forage, as ruminants have evolved to do.
The sheep are currently all bred to Easy Care and Exlana rams, a modern hair sheep breed developed with the aim of improving welfare and reducing management and inputs. They live their lives without many of the stressful interferences, such as shearing, that are necessary for other breeds.
All the lambs are reared for at least one year, and cattle for 30 months, to ensure they have experienced the passing of all four seasons in our Shropshire pastures. They believe this gives the meat time to develop a depth of flavour, and tenderness, that reflects a life well lived and cared for.
The fields their animals graze receive no chemical fertilizers. Instead, They sow a variety of herbs, clovers and native grass species that thrive without any artificial inputs, and provide the animals with a broad range of vitamins and minerals to maintain their health. Every field is bordered by hedgerows or woodland, or dotted with trees, to provide shelter and shade. The trees and hedgerows also offer a broad variety of edible plants, which the animals are free to browse at their leisure, to further supplement their diet.
Their meat is Pasture for Life and Red Tractor Farm Assured. The benefits of pasture fed meat from ruminants include higher levels of vitamins and minerals, a healthier fat profile due to higher Omega-3 levels, and higher levels of CLA. Meat from Wagyu cattle also has higher levels of mono-unsaturated fat than any other breed.
