Caring For Our Cows - Freedom Foods Assured Herds
Each cow has its own mattress!

Denhay Farm has 1000 Friesian Holstein cows in five herds, selected for the high protein quality of their milk.

Their welfare is independently audited by the RSPCA’s Freedom Foods scheme. In summer they go out to graze the grass in the fields and we have built cow friendly tracks for the cows to get to the fields. Surplus grass to the grazing is made into silage for storage as winter feed. Silage is fermented grass, similar to pickled onions. The acidity created preserves the feed quality as well as making it very palatable for the cows. We also grow maize and wheat for cow feed. The maize is ensiled in a similar way to the grass.

In winter, when the ground is too wet and cold, they are kept indoors and fed on a diet of grass and maize silage, supplemented with cereals - mainly wheat and soya. Whilst inside, every cow has a mattress on which to lie.

All the milk produced by the Denhay herds is used to make West Country Farmhouse Cheddar. The cream, from the by-product whey, is used to make whey farmhouse butter.

Denhay is unique as a Cheesemaker in that we have one person responsible for everything from the breeding, feeding and welfare of the cows to the making, maturing and grading of the cheese: Simon Hill, our Farms Director has that role.