Court Farm Butchery & Country Larder

General information

Court Farm, Upper Halling, has been associated with the Lingham family for around 150 years. It occupies approximately 900 acres of land - 550 acres are used for arable farming and 450 acres for pasture land: growing cereals, oil seed rape, peas and linseed crops on the fertile land close to the North Downs and the Pilgrims Way.

We aim with our livestock enterprises to produce a year round supply of quality meats from a known source. As farmers through the generations we have always appreciated the soil purifying benefits that livestock enterprises bring to the thin chalky soils of the North Downs.

A varied farming system is very much a balanced system, although in recent years, surprisingly, such systems have been least profitable, mainly because the supermarkets have seldom paid livestock farmers a realistic price for their products to cover costs and allow for reinvestment.

The result is that we are now one of the few remaining commercial livestock farming businesses in the Medway Valley, as many of our neighbours have ceased livestock farming (both for meat and milk).

As a good part of the land on Court Farm is very steep and often too wet for arable farming we did not really have the option to cease livestock farming and turn the land over to arable totally (cereals and oil seeds). Plus the chalky low quality soils here greatly benefit from the manure generated by livestock.

Adding value by opening our own butchery to sustain our livestock enterprises seemed a perfect answer.

Welfare Friendly Farming

Livestock are very demanding in terms of time, patience and management.

Welfare considerations are paramount in getting the best from the animals, after all they are giving the ultimate sacrifice, to produce succulent prime meats for our customers and a livelihood for ourselves and those who work for us.

Beef System

Our beef enterprises is centred around a 75 cow spring calving suckler herd. The cows are predominantly Simmental and Continental Cross cows, European breeds eg Chamolious, Luminousim, Blonde, D’Aquitame. The cows are mated with either Simmental or Aberdeen Angus bulls. To produce calves that will after 2 years of nurturing grow into traditionally reared succulent prime beef.

Lambs & Sheep from Court Farm

The 250 -400 lambs per year sold throughout our shop and other outlets are produced by our store lamb finishing enterprise. These lambs are not bred on the farm but are usually purchased through Ashford livestock market at 5-7 months of age.

To breed the number we require to supply the shop would necessitate a breed flock of at least 250 ewes, additional labour and building space and land all of which are limited in our current operation.

As Kent and Sussex are lamb producing counties, particularly Romney Marsh, we have no trouble sourcing the quality lambs that we require.

Lambs for meat tend to be a cross of 2 breeds known surprisingly as cross bred lambs! These lambs tend to show hybrid vigour in other words they exhibit improved breed traits and characteristics of their individual parent’s breed such as growth rates and confirmation and finished weight. Such traits are required for a meat lamb.

By sourcing a variety of breed types such as Suffolk cross and Kent cross (English), Texel Cross (Dutch) and Rouge de L’Ouest (French) we can produce quality Court Farm Lambs nearly year round.