Farming native-breed cattle for biodiversity and the bottom line

Room 1: 11:30am

Ruth Dalton, Whinpot Farm

Ruth was brought up in North Yorkshire where she helped her farming neighbours and tried not to admit to having been born in Lancashire. After university, she ran a species reintroduction for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, but swapped waders for wellies to become an apprentice to a local conservation grazier with a large beef herd. She then took a job with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust covering “the North”.

A decade and several million miles later she left the charity at the start of 2020 and became an independent farm advisor, specialising in nature-friendly farming and native breeds. Despite being terrible at invoicing people, she has somehow managed to remain self-employed ever since. Ruth and her husband farm around 200 acres in the Lake District with Shetland cattle, mixed-breed sheep and Golden Guernsey goats.

Her two talks will cover the basics of cattle keeping on a small scale, and how farming native-breed cattle can help both biodiversity and the bottom line.

Insta @whinpotfarmruth