Red Oak Farm

                                                                           Grazing the water meadows along the Great        

                                   River Ouse, outstanding quality beef.

Born, raised and finished at Red Oak Farm, a state of the art beef farm in the village of Westbury

on the borders of Northampronshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire are our own herds of

cattle. These consist of pedigree Simmenal and Red Aberdeen Angus along with a commercial

herd made up by mixing both these breeds. These animals are either owned by George or Owen

Farms with George managing everything day to day. Numbers run at around 160 breeding cows

with everything being fully raised and finished on farm, total numbers on farm at any one time are

usual around the 400.

The Mellow Moo's of Red Oak Farm spend the spring, summer and part of autunm grazing the

water meadows along the Great River Ouse. The winter months are spent housed at Red Oak

Farm, even through the winter they are fed on crops (grass, maize silage, barley, beans and oats)

grown on the farm with only essential mineral suppliments are brought in. The majority of the

herds also calve over the housed period, this way they recieve the best possible care whilst looking

after their babies. Red Oak cattle are also members of a health scheme, classed as being Elite

status meaning they are free of BVD, Lepto, IBR and Johne's disease. As well as suppling Mellow

Meats, Red Oak farm beef is also sold to some high end customers including Harrods, Marks &

Spencers, Ascot Racecourse for Royal Ascot week to name a few.

Nene Flock

                                                            Spring Lamb that's born and raised       

                                                    in the picturesque Nene Valley near Daventry.

The Nene Flock is a small flock of 25 Wiltshire Horn sheep, the Wiltshire Horn is a very old

native breed and up until the end of the eighteenth century was the predominant breed found on

the Wiltshire downs. The females are good milky mothers, producing vigorous lambs that finish well at

grass. Wiltshire Horns are also unique amongst UK native breeds for their ability to shed their fleece naturally,

meaning they do not require shearing. 

The lambs are born inside during March each year and are turned outside with their mothers as soon as they are old

enough,usually at a week or two weeks old. They spend their entire lives grazing on the lovely meadows surrounding

the farm being given a modest amount of concentrate feed towards the end of summer. This is done to achieve the

level of carcass finish that customer feedback has told us is optimum. Clare and Nikolai also run a pedigree Simmental

herd (Blackfriar Simmentals), a stock bull from this herd is used by George on both the pedigree and commercial

herd at Red Oak Farm. Nene lamb is available from Mellow Meats normally in October depending on the season,

we aim to offer this as either whole of half boxes butchered to the customers spec or our standard one.

This lamb is very popular so always advisable to have your name on the list to avoid disappointment. 

Hyde Farm

                                                        Very special beef raised on the finest         

                                          wildflower meadows in Northamptonshire      

The Dunkley family have been rearing and finishing rare and native breed cattle at Hyde Farm,

Road in Northamptonshire since 2001. In that time the breeding herd has mainly consisted of

Dexters with many other breeds (White Park, Shorthorn, Longhorn, Red Poll, Highland and Irish

Moll) being sourced locally for finishing. During this time the majority of the beef has been sold to

rare breed butchers in London. We are very excited to say that this is now available through

Mellow Meats. 

Stuart is now phasing out the various rare and native breeds in favour of a relatively newcomer, the

Speckled Park. Originating in Canada, the Speckled Park is a mix of White Park, Beef Shorthorn

and Aberdeen Angus and is therefore a perfect mix of some of our greatest and well loved native

breeds. They are naturally polled, very docile and fatten beautifully off grass and are finished on 

40 acres of wildflower meadows which were sown with Rothschild's Aston Wold seeds in 2002.

Since then these meadows have received no fertilisers or sprays. The cattle are finished as close to

30 months of age as possible, having a small amount of barley fed to them as well as the grass to

maximise marbling and flavour, ensuring the best possible eating experience.

Upper Spernal Farm

                                                          From the home of Purity Beer, beef raised in the

                                               beautiful countryside in the heart of Warwickshire.

The cattle at Upper Spernal Farm are a mix of Pedigree Longhorn and Longhorn crossed with Red 

Aberdeen Angus. The Longhorn breed dates back to the 1700's, being very popular in the Craven district of  

Yorkshire. In 1760 a farmer in Leicestershire took on improving the breed, by 1810 the majority of beef

cattle in the Midlands were of improved Longhorn type. Fast forward to 1970 and the

Longhorn breed was classed as a rare breed when the Rare Breeds

Survial Trust was formed. Since then the breed has steadily grown and is no longer classed

as a rare breed with over 12,000 registered females in the UK. One of these breeders is

Granville at Upper Spernal Farm. Mellow Meats connection with Granville started when he brought

a Pedigree Red Angus bull from George for his breeding program, hence why we have the connection

and our very proud to offer this amazing beef to our customers.

Granville likes Longhorns as they are easy calvers and can stay outside, they are good mums and very docile. Longhorns are not big muscled lean athletic cattle but are slow maturing animals with fat marbling the muscle. In other words, Longhorn beef tastes great. The only problem with a pure bred longhorn is that they take an age to finish so we now cross the Longhorns with a Red Angus bull, the Red Angus is a compact easy calving breed that gives the carcass more muscle without any loss in the flavour.                                                   The cattle year starts with the cows and calves going off to go conservation grazing in April for the summer and autumn.  Like all native breeds they can convert low quality forage into milk for their calves. When winter comes the cows and young calves weather permitting stay out on some old pasture where they can be fed. As long as they have feed and there is shelter, they are happier outside.                                          The rest come into the sheds to grow on or finish. We feed them on good quality silage from grass leys where we have to use a bit of old sunshine; and our secret ingredient is brewers grains which give the meat a unique flavour.                                                                           The brewers grains come from Purity Brewing company who brew in an extremely efficient way and use a reed bed system to treat their waste making them one of the most ecologically sound brewers in the county.                                                                                                            The carbon footprint for grain delivery is small. Travel times for brewers grain collection vary from three to five minutes depending on whether I have to get out of the tractor and open the gates to the brewery. The cattle are on the same farm the brewery.                              This beef truly is amazing and only available at Mellow Meats.

The Pig Place

                                                          Happy pigs produced free range

                              outside as nature intended.

The Pig Place is a rather unique campsite situated beside the Oxford canal in-between Adderbury

and Aynho near Banbury. As the name suggest as well as a campsite they also produce 

free range pork. Breed wise you will find Gloucester Old Spot, Pietrin and Saddleback,