NEW LAUND FARM
WHITEWELL
John Alpe runs the farm, helped by his father; 4 part-time staff are employed.
It has four enterprises:
1. Sheep
2. Environment and especially Education Access (Higher Level Stewardship)
3. Dairy Cows
4. Beef
HISTORY
New Laund Farm used to be a deer reserve until 1766. It sits within the Whitewell Estate within the Forest of Bowland.
© Copyright 2008.
TERRAIN
New Laund rises from the bank of the River Hodden to 1500 feet on the moorland; the fell land is all enclosed.
SIZE OF THE FARM
315 acres.
LIVESTOCK & NUMBERS
800 breeding ewes, Swaledale ewes and Lonks
40 Holstein Fresians
30 Aberdeen Angus (beef stores)
50% of the land is registered with Organic Farmers & Growers.
GRAZING & CONSERVATION
Half of the land is organic, all of it is in some kind of environmental scheme.
There is a heather regeneration on the uplands; species-rich limestone hills; habitat improvement within the in-bye and the cultivation of wild flower meadows.
The farm has received support from the RSPB Bowland Wader Project, which has offered practical advice and support with securing an HLS agreement. This delivers sympathetically managed grazing pasture and meadows for ground nesting wading birds such as Lapwings, Curlews and Oystercatchers.
In addition, rush management is targeted to maximise the quality of grassland habitat for these birds. The farm's cattle are key to this management. Small wet features called wader scrapes have been created to provide invertebrate rich feeding areas for these birds' chicks.
The Cumbria Fells and Dales Leader + programme is based at Voluntary Action Cumbria and is part-financed by the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund of the European Union and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. This project is part of a trans-national project with Gévaudan Leader + Programme, Lozère, France.
© Copyright 2008 Cumbria Hill Farms