Donkeywell Farm

1,305 trees planted January 2021 | near Quenington, Gloucestershire

The name of the farm came from a well some 150 ft deep (dug by hand) that used to be worked by a donkey that dropped dead and fell down the well. Supposedly never found again!

Farmed by a second generation farmer; 700 acres of Cotswold brash land rented off the Ernest Cook Trust on a AHA tenancy. All converted to organic which started in 1996. Mostly arable farming growing wheat, barley and oats.

It used to have be dairy but the milk quota was sold and the cattle herd was converted to a beef herd. These were then sold 15 years ago as they were not profitable. Now the focus is on arable with a few tack sheep.

A five year crop rotation; wheat or rye, followed by barley then oats, then followed by 2 years of clover leys for fertility building. 95 % of work now carried out by the farmer with some harvest help only. It’s currently in the final year of a Higher Level Scheme agreement and hopes to get into Mid – Tier scheme this year. About 15% of the farm is put aside for bird mixes, beetle bank, grass margin, nectar plots and fallow plots for wildlife. Having some positive bird counts with some 60 species of bird, with 7 of those species being on the red list and 6 on the amber list.