How long has  Burstock Grange Farm been the home of the Frampton family?

The farm has been in the family since 1912.  It was initially rented by my great grandfather, and the family bought it in 1958.

Where is the farm and what is it like?

The farm is situated on the outskirts of Broadwindsor between Pilsdon and Lewesdon Hill.   We have a high rainfall area, getting above 45 inches a year which is good for growing grass but being 550ft above sea level we do suffer from fog.   The farm is fortunate to have a road running right through the middle, which is part of the Monarch Way, one side the soil is limestone brash (a limestone soil with a high stone content), and the other sandy loam.

Who runs the farm?

The farm is now run by myself, my brother Andrew, and my son Dan.  We aim to keep to traditional farming methods where possible.

What do you farm?

The farm is predominantly a dairy farm; we have a herd of Friesians.  The milk produced goes to Barbers Farmhouse Cheddar, now the oldest surviving cheddar-makers in the world, they were established in 1833.  We also have some beef cattle, mainly Aberdeen Angus, which we raise to store age and sale.  The farm also entertains a flock of breeding ewes, Suffolk x mules which are lambed in February to Texel & Beltex Rams.

What does your typical day look like at this time of the year? 

My typical day starts at 5.45 am and finishes at 6.30 pm or later.   My day is a mix of animal care, land management and various farm tasks which change depending on the seasons and the weather!

A day in April 2025..

5.45 am  I get up, watch the news and listen to the morning chorus.

6.00 am I get the cows in and start milking.  This is my thinking time and when I plan the day ahead.

8.30 am I finish milking and clean up behind the cows.  I move the strip fed kale fence before letting the cows out.

9.30 am I go home for my breakfast, usually a bowl of cereal – Weetabix or Shredded Wheat, with hot milk, sugar and cream –  followed by a cooked breakfast, kindly cooked by my wife Angela who is a very good cook!

10.00 am   I take the cow manure out and spread it on the fields.

11.00 am  I bag up lamb creep pellets (creep feed is a supplement for young lambs) and go to see the sheep.  I also check up on the dry cows.

12.00 pm   I pop to John Bright Fencing for fence posts -I’m busy putting up a fence to keep the sheep in!  I go home and place out the posts.

1.00 pm I go for my lunch and a short nap.

2.00 pm I give the cows another lot of kale and roll out the sheep netting.

3.00 pm I take some photos of some capital grant works that was done in the winter ready for submission.  We have been in the Countryside Stewardship Scheme for the last 25 years; all internal hedges are in a hedge laying rotation.  The capital grants help fund laying ditches and fencing.  The photos have to be taken to prove you have done the work.

4.00 pm I milk the cows again and give a mobility score on the cows.  Mobility scoring assesses a cow’s ability to move, using a scale from 0 to 3, with 0 being good mobility and 3 being severely impaired mobility. This scoring system helps us identify cows that may be lame or have other mobility issues, allowing for early detection and treatment

6.30 pm I go home for a cooked tea with the family, cooked as always by my wife Angela.

8.45 pm I go to play skittles in the local farmers team who play in the Crewkerne Farmers’ skittle league.

At midnight I get home and go to bed!