West Ilkerton is a 240-acre hill livestock farm with grazing rights on Ilkerton Ridge, an adjoining area of moorland. We run the farm as a family business, with no employees. Contractors are used for major jobs like shearing and silage-making.

Our aim is to blend modern knowledge with traditional sustainable farming methods using local breeds. There have been North Devon cattle and Exmoor Horn sheep at West Ilkerton for hundreds of years.

The farm is managed under an Environmentally Sensitive Area agreement. Animal welfare and wildlife conservation are very important considerations in all our work on the farm.

Carting hay from Church Close, August 2007

Cattle

We keep a herd of pedigree North Devon (“Red Ruby”) suckler cows. The cows calve from January until May. The calves stay with their mothers until they are about nine months old, when they are weaned and kept in social groups with others of a similar age. The cattle are housed and fed home-grown silage during the coldest winter months. They are allowed out into the fields again as soon as the weather permits.

A new bull is brought into the herd every couple of years, to prevent in-breeding, but all the other cattle in the herd are born and raised at West Ilkerton, ensuring a life which is as stress-free as possible.

The herd is BSE-free.

Our herd bull for 2006 and 2007 was Whitefield Millennium (Dam: Whitefield Orange 123rd Sire: Kerr's Rupert).

We bought a new herd bull in August 2007. His name is Lee Manor Winston (Dam: Whitefield Orange 141st Sire: Whitefield Comanchie).

The best female calves are kept as herd replacements and the rest are sold — usually to other farms for breeding. Please contact us if you are interested in buying breeding stock. In future we may also have one or two young bulls for sale each year.

The male calves are kept at the farm, and are destined for the prime beef trade. Please see the 'Beef and Lamb' page of this website for details.

Sheep

Our foundation flock consists of around 140 Exmoor Horn ewes, which are run with a flock of approximately 50 Exmoor Horn X Border Leicester ewes. We are gradually converting the flock to 100% Exmoor Horn ewes, which will run with Exmoor Horn and Blueface Leicester rams.

Lambing takes place during April. The ewes are housed in the sheds for lambing. When the lambs are about four days old, and if they are strong enough, they are taken out to sheltered meadows with their mothers.

The sheep are kept for wool and meat. The lambs are grass-fed on the wildflower-rich traditional pastures of West Ilkerton. We like to think our animals appreciate the wonderful and varied views from their fields.

Exmoor Horns are famed for the quality of their wool, but unfortunately the value of wool nowadays is much less than the cost of shearing the sheep. The best ewe lambs are kept to join the flock or sold to other farmers for breeding. Please contact us if you are interested in buying Exmoor Horn or Blueface x Exmoor Horn breeding stock.

The other lambs are destined for the table, as prime lambs or hoggets. Please see the 'Beef and Lamb' page of this website for details.