The Three Locks Farm is owned and run by myself, Chris, and my wife, Eve. We are helped on a regular basis by our grown up daughters, Bethan & Rhiannon, their partners and our granddaughter Felicity.
It has been a long held dream that one day we would be able to produce our own quality food, knowing how it has been grown or raised and ensuring the highest possible standards of welfare for our animals are met, from birth to butcher.
We purchased the land, now known as The Three Locks Farm, on 6th August 2015, after a long 4+ year search. We have be astounded by the support we have received from our lovely neighbours, local farmers and local people. Their support and help have helped us quickly grow into an already thriving farm & business.
We are passionate about three main things, firstly, the animals.
We want to know that our animals don’t just meet the requirements to be classified as ‘free range’, as to be perfectly frank, those standards leave a lot to be desired! We well exceed those standards and give our livestock almost pet status. They nearly all have names, even those destined for the plate. Knowing our animals well, means that we know where and when they like their scratches and what their favourite food is. It also means we know instantly when something is not quite right, and can identify any sick animals quickly, quite often before any major symptoms show. Having been a vegetarian for 20 years, people often cannot understand how I can now eat my own animals, but, I know they’ve had the best life and the quickest death, what I now can’t do is eat meat that I don’t have that knowledge of!
Secondly, the product, be it eggs, pork, lamb or honey, quality is key. We have very purposefully chosen traditional, native breeds. The chickens lay less eggs per year than a commercial chicken. The sheep and pigs are far more slower growing and therefore not economically viable for the commercial market, but both, taste wise are leagues apart.
Meat production in the British Isles has for many years been driven by economic considerations – the requirement to produce animals which grow faster but eat less food – and by an overriding obsession with leanness in meat. The result has been meat which may look good on the sales counter but which is often tough and tasteless.
The Three Locks Farm meat has been produced with superior taste and texture as a primary consideration. It therefore has a higher fat content than most modern meat, which greatly enhances its taste and succulence. Some people like to eat the fat, others don’t, but it is important that the meat is cooked with its fat. Those who don’t like fat should look on it like the sediment in a good bottle of wine – you don’t drink it but it needs to be there!
And thirdly, education. We firmly believe that children (and some adults!) need to be aware that sausages do not grow on trees. There is a lot of naivety around farming, we are striving to run an ethical and informative farm. For example, we hatch our own chickens. At least 50% of a hatch will typically be boys, boys are pretty useless at laying eggs!
Commercially all boy chicks are culled at a day old, we grow our boys, they are given the same free range life as the girls until they reach sexual maturity when they are humanely dispatched for the table. We respect each life, nothing is ever wasted or taken for granted.